Sunshine
by Kizunami
Summary: This is the story of Apogee and the Thrilling Three: Dynaguy, The Phylange, and later Gazerbeam told from Apogee's point of view. Agatha Somer, aka Apogee, has to deal with her personal demons as well as a potential love in her life.
1. You'd be prettier if you smiled more

Disclaimers: This fanfiction is based off of a few character profiles and interviews off of Disc 2 of the "The Incredibles" DVD. Therefore, it's not supposed to be 100 accurate. This is simply how I think the characters were, and even their names have been made up. This particular fic takes place before the big "let's sue the supers" event.

**Chapter One – "You'd be prettier if you smiled more"**

Agatha Somer glanced at the clock as she crammed a bagel into her mouth. 9:50 AM, meaning that she was late for work. "The Boss is going to _kill_ me." She muttered, heading out the door to her apartment, in which she lived alone.

Metroville's traffic was bustling along, as usual. People were all over the place, busily hurrying about. Agatha was just another blonde, vivacious girl living in the moment. Hardly extraordinary. She didn't even own an automobile.

Agatha's ears perked up as she distinctly heard the sound of a blast. She glanced to the right and saw two robbers enter the Metroville Bank. With a sigh, Agatha looked down at her white blouse and black skirt. "And it took so long to iron…" Wasting no time, Agatha found a quite place to remove her outer layer of clothing. Underneath was a one-of-a-kind Edna Mode suit. It was plain white with red sleeves that were turned up, and a red belt. She tucked her long hair under the swim-cap-like head cover and put on the goggles.

In a matter of seconds, she had become Apogee. She looked up at the sky and grinned. Beautiful azure skies, and the sun was perfectly unfettered by clouds. Without a moment's hesitation, Apogee ran into the bank.

"Stop right there!" she yelled, using her solar-powered powers to force the burglars to the ground. She used her gravitation control to pin the two in place.

"Great Scott! It's Apogee!" one of them cried.

"I _told_ you we should've gone at night!" the other yelled.

Annoyed that everyone knew her weak point, Apogee pushed them to the ground harder, causing them to cry out in pain.

"Even if you had, I would've dealt with you accordingly," a deep voice said from behind her. Without altering the gravity field she had on the thieves, Apogee turned her head towards the other super.

"Gazerbeam," she growled. "I've got this under control. Go away."

"You can't handle them alone, Popo." Gazerbeam drawled. Apogee rolled her eyes.

"I can handle this." She assured him through gritted teeth.

"Your powers aren't that great." Gazerbeam shrugged, trying to act cool.

"Better to be weaker at night than to not be able to look someone in the eye without burning them to a crisp," she replied acidly.

"Weaker? You're **useless** at night!" he argued. She noticed that he said nothing about her comment about _his_ powers, and assumed that she had hit a sore spot. Still, his remark stung. Neither said another word until the police arrived. Apogee helped the 2 thieves to the cop car and slowly sauntered out of the bank. "You know…" Gazerbeam said. "You'd be prettier if you smiled more."

"How do _you_ know? I'm masked," she snapped.

"You're very attractive, even when yelling at me. So I presume that a happy Apogee would be even better." He walked past her and waved as he said, "Don't frown _too_ much, you'll get wrinkles."

Blushing, Apogee went home to change _again_ for work.


	2. Of Boys and Men

**Chapter Two – Of Boys and Men**

Agatha impatiently tapped her stilleto'ed foot against the ground as The Boss continued his tirade about how angry he was that she was late to work that morning. It was already half past 7 PM. _Was it MY fault that I was out there FIGHTING CRIME?_ she thought bitterly. Secretly, Agatha deeply resented the fact that her powers only worked when the sun was shining. The fact that it had been a cloudless morning made it her duty to go after the bank robbers. "Mr. Paladino. I apologize for my tardiness, but I had a legitimate reason for being late." she interrupted.

"Oh, really? Let's hear it, then." her employer said with a smug grin, folding his arms against his chest. Agatha froze. Obviously, she couldn't tell him that she was Apogee and that she was saving the Metroville Bank. The fact that he wore very large sunglasses made it impossible for her to make eye contact, which only made her feel even smaller.

"I, uh. Um..." she stammered, unable to come up with a good excuse on the spot.

"You know what? I don't even want to hear it." he sighed. "Just leave." With a happy smile and in disbelief at her luck, Agatha rose from her chair and turned to go out the door. "Oh, wait a second." Slowly and warily, Agatha turned around.

"Yes?"

"I've, uh, got a date tonight, and I want to sort of...show that I have a sense of humor. Ladies like that. Can I tell you a joke, and you tell me what you think?" Knowing full well how much The Boss needed to lighten up, Agatha was reluctant to stay. Mr. Paladino's desperate tone finally won her over, though, and she nodded. "A neutron goes into a bar and asks the bartender, 'How much for a beer?' The bartender replies, 'For you, no charge.'"

"Sir?" Agatha queried after a pause.

"Yes, Agatha?"

"You might want to cancel your date."

--

Putting on her suit, she decided to let her hair out of the head covering, at least, but still kept the goggles on. One thing she loved about her body was her hair; long, blonde, and every girl's fantasy. It was ironic, really, but putting on her suit gave her so much more confidence. You'd think that donning a mask and being forced to hide your true self would make it harder to be a hero, but Agatha found that she much rather preferred being Apogee to being Agatha. Evidently she wasn't the _only_ super who felt this way, because night-time super parties were never in short supply.

Coincidentally, she was on the way to one such party herself, one being held by Gamma Jack. Pretty much all the supers would be there except Everseer, of course. Being around a lot of people frightened him, as he had a large phobia of germs. Besides, _somebody_ had to be out on the streets looking for criminals.

As she entered the pavilion, she saw many familiar faces: Stratogale, Mr. Incredible, Blazestone…She walked over towards Gamma Jack to say hello, only mildly annoyed by the fact that he was surrounded by women and nearly impossible to approach.

"Jack!" she called out, trying to get his attention.

Brightening considerably, Gamma Jack pulled away from the mob, but they still followed. "Hey, look! Universal Man's here!" he yelled, pointing towards the door. Screaming wildly, the crowd of girls ambushed the poor super as soon as he walked in. Smoothing his hair back coolly, Jack walked over to Apogee. "Hey there, sunshine. You're looking bright tonight."

"You aim to please, Jack. Suave, as usual." She teased, tucking a stray wisp of her hair behind an ear with a smirk.

"I notice your hair's down today." He moved in closer. "It's…sizzling. Just like the sun."

Apogee laughed. "I think you need to work on your pick-up lines, though."

Jack shrugged as he walked backwards toward the other partygoers. "Hey hey, don't worry. I know you want me, sunshine. I like the ones that play…_hard to get_." Jack licked his lips. "Anyway, I gotta go mingle. Have fun, girl!"

Apogee waved as Jack walked off, rolling her eyes with a smile. "Didn't I tell you," a voice said from behind her, "That you're prettier when you smile?"

"Gazerbeam." Apogee sighed, slowly turning around.

"Apogee." Gazerbeam bowed his head slightly. "You look radiant tonight."

Apogee decided that it wouldn't be ladylike to be rude to Gazerbeam like she normally was, especially when he was trying to be polite. Besides, it was a party. She was supposed to be having fun. "Thank you. I thought it would be nice to let my hair down for a change."

There was a long, awkward pause before Gazerbeam cleared his throat. "Well, I wanted to…apologize for my behavior this morning. It wasn't fair of me to criticize you, and my powers aren't exactly Meta Man's either."

Now she felt guilty. "I'm sorry, too, Gazerbeam. I'm sure it's hard to not be able to see eye-to-eye with anyone."

"Wouldn't I know it," he muttered. "Let's enjoy the party, all right? We supers hardly ever get to catch a break these days."

Apogee lifted a champagne glass from a tray held by a waiter passing by and held it up. "Cheers to that."


	3. Heroes can do anything

Inspired by a drabble written by my friend Lisa. The lyrics are a translated version of Morning Musume's "Roman Dear My Boy". Anachronistic, I know. Apologies, mates.

**Chapter Three – "Heroes can do _anything_."**

"DON'T CRY short-lived first loves are good  
because nothing comes of them.   
DON'T CRY you start from there.  
RIDE ON! RIDE ON! RIDE ON!  
no matter how you weaken, I'll keep you safe  
I can handle this much, I can handle it.  
RIDE ON! RIDE ON!  
I think the earth's come down with a slight fever,  
we must champion right"

Music was blaring in the background, loud, bouncy, crazy music. At one point, Apogee knew somewhere in the back of her head that she probably should've stopped taking champagne glasses from the waiters scurrying about. She was delicate, and had never been able to hold her liquor. But it was a party. She was supposed to be living it up, right?

"MY DEAR BOY I paint  
only realistic romance HEY! MY BOY  
there's an infinite canvas called the sky  
come on now, let's go!  
LET'S HAVE A DANCE NOW  
come on now, let's go!  
LET'S HAVE A DANCE NOW  
MY DEAR MY DEAR"

"Ok, you need to sit down." She heard someone say, and then felt hands grasp her arms. Apogee reasoned that it was the booze talking and pulled away.

"Leave me alone…" she whined, swatting at the person with her hands.

"So you're one of _that_ kind of drunk. Weepy." The person scoffed. "Sit **down**." Apogee was forced into a chair, and a glass of water was held to her lips. "Drink." When she turned her head and tried to resist, she felt a strong hand grasp her chin and force the liquid down her throat. "Nobody likes a drunk super. You can't go on like this."

After reluctantly downing the rest of the glass, Apogee replied angrily, "Heroes can do _anything_."

The person laughed at her. "Can they?"

"DON'T CRY the girl who doesn't cry  
will live her life with strength.  
DON'T CRY Won't lose at love.  
RIDE ON! RIDE ON! RIDE ON!  
no matter how much time passes,  
I'll be waiting.  
this much you can be sure of.  
RIDE ON! RIDE ON!  
pass the sash to the future, there's no doubt in doing what's right"

There was a loud crashing noise as a wall of Gamma Jack's house was knocked down. Apogee tried to look around, but the world was blackening around her. "Stay here, Popo! You can't fight at night, and you're totally wasted. It's Bomb Voyage…"

The last thing she saw before passing out was the back of the green suit of a retreating figure. She heard lasers being fired and things exploding. Shouts were heard, probably the other supers fighting. Apogee hated being useless. She hated not being able to fight at night. She hated being weak…

"Gazerbeam."

"MY DEAR BOY everything will be decided  
by the ideas you come up with. HEY! MY BOY  
there's an infinite passion called peace.  
come on now, let's go!  
LET'S HAVE A DANCE NOW  
come on now, let's go!  
LET'S HAVE A DANCE  
MY DEAR MY DEAR"


	4. Of Mice and Men

Wow, thanks for the reviews! XD Sorry it's taken so long, but I'll be cranking out a few more chapters now that I have more time.

**Chapter Four – Of Mice and Men**

_Agatha was surrounded by darkness. Above, she could see the moon and felt as if she would die from the cold. Her inner voice kept telling her that she was useless without the sun…she needed it as if it were water, a vital part of her life. She heard evil laughter from behind her and gasped, turning around._

_"Who's there!" she demanded, but no one answered. Suddenly, Gazerbeam's face, or his mask, at least, appeared in her mind. "Why---?" And she was enveloped in a large burst of red light._

--

Agatha awoke with a start. She found herself staring at a white ceiling, and could feel her cold sweat soak into the cotton sheets that were upon her. With a massive headache, (no doubt from the alcohol) Agatha forced herself to sit up and figure out where she was. She had been sleeping on a couch, she realized, and slowly got up.

Whoever the decorator was, Agatha thought, he or she was probably a huge fan of the minimalist style. There was very little furniture in what she gathered to be the living room, and the walls and ceilings were a dull white colour.

In horror, she realized that the person could now know her identity, and Agatha instinctively grabbed the top of her head to feel for the mask. She sighed with relief when she felt that it was still there.

"Come now, Apogee. I may be curious as to your identity, but not _that_ curious." An amused voice drawled. Whirling around quickly after hearing Gazerbeam's voice, she instead saw the last person she'd ever expect to see.

Mr. Paladino. Agatha's mouth hung open in shock. "_Gazerbeam!_" Her boss was Gazerbeam. Mind spinning, Agatha tried to calm down. At least he didn't know who she was. Gazerbeam, or rather, The Boss, was dressed in sand-colored slacks and a white button-up shirt, open and showing his chest. He was a lot more muscular than she would've figured. To her surprise, he wasn't wearing sunglasses, or any other sort of glasses for that matter.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't really hurt for you to know who I am," he shrugged. "Just don't tell anybody, I guess….what are you staring at?"

"Your beautiful home decorating." She replied, totally deadpan. When The Boss continued to stare at her incredulously, she sighed. "You, of course. You're not wearing anything over your eyes."

"Oh…I don't have to." When he saw her face, he added, "I only 'burn things to a crisp' when I concentrate on them a lot." There was a long awkward silence. The question Agatha wanted to ask was stuck in her throat. She felt weak, as if she hadn't totally woken up from her nightmare. As though sensing what she wanted to say, The Boss said quietly, "Bomb Voyage escaped." He gestured for her to sit down, and as her knees were feeling especially weak, Agatha complied. "Me and Incredible went first to try to stop him, but he used this weird smoke bomb and got away. Stormicide actually got pretty sick with the smoke poisoning."

"I wish I could've been there." She whispered.

"It wouldn't have done any good, really. I know it pains you to hear that, but it's true. It was dark out, and you were drunk." He tried to be gentle, but the words still stung.

"So how did I end up here?" Agatha abruptly changed the subject.

Not missing a beat, The Boss replied, "Well, after things got a little less chaotic, I took you here to my house, since I'm sure you wouldn't want Gamma Jack looking after you. And I don't know where you live, since I don't know who you are, and I didn't think it right to violate your privacy."

"Heroes…really can't do anything, can they?" she asked weakly.

"I don't think so. We're more mice, than men. We have more to fear, more to hide from…more worries. If the rest of the world found our identities, we'd never have a moment's peace. And yet we're spending our lives running around, saving people from disasters and even death."

"I think I need to go now. To work." Agatha said in a mechanical voice. The fact that her boss was Gazerbeam, the crushing feeling she had where her heart was, her feeling of complete uselessness…

"Not in your condition!" The Boss argued. Agatha shook her head. "You mean _real_ work? It's Saturday."

"I don't…I need to leave." She replied simply, sluggishly.

"I…understand." The Boss got up and walked Agatha to the door. "I…" he paused, as if contemplating the consequences of what he was about to say, then decided to not say it. "Take care of yourself, Popo." With a nod, Agatha walked out of the apartment and into the sun.

Instantly, she felt rejuvenated. In the sunlight was where mice and men belonged.

**Author's Note**

I know this sounds like the ending, but it isn't. xD


	5. The Solar Suit

**Chapter Five – The Solar Suit**

Agatha tapped her foot impatiently as she waited in front of the gate to Edna Mode's house. On her way back to her apartment, still in a daze from finding out Gazerbeam's identity, she had noticed a few tears in her costume, undoubtedly from the fiasco at Gamma Jack's party with Bomb Voyage. She had changed into more casual clothing, but had her supersuit in a bag.

"Who is it?" the guard asked over the intercom. Edna knew all of the supers (that provided her payroll) on a first-name basis. All dealings were strictly confidential, so even Universal Man had no reason to fear about his secret identity being discovered.

"It's Agatha," she replied, voice smooth and calm. There was a long pause, and Agatha assumed that the guard was checking some sort of database. Apparently he had found what he was looking for, because the gate opened. Within moments, the vertically challenged Edna Mode came waddling into view.

"Why, hello dahhhling," Edna sneered in her usual condescending tone. "What is it that you have come for?" She looked Agatha over and exclaimed, "Why, APOGEE DAHHHLING, why the long face? You look like your mother just died!"

"I don't have a mother," Agatha said, raising an eyebrow. She was dodging the question, but secretly hoped that the fashion designer wouldn't notice.

"Well, if you still had one, she'd be dead after seeing your face." Edna tittered. Then "WHAAAT have you done to my supersuit!" she shouted, apparently forgetting about Agatha's hypothetical deceased mother.

"You know about what happened last night, don't you?" Agatha quipped. "It's just got a few rips and tears, just a patch job." she explained, trying not to upset Edna.

"That won't do at all, DAHHHLING. The Edna Mode is NOT a tailor, she is a DESIGNER! Well, at least that word rolls off the tongue better. I will _improve_ your suit, not merely 'patch it up'!" she said the last few 3 words with obvious disdain.

"Well…if you must." Agatha replied weakly, trying to smile in gratitude.

"You are upset that you cannot fight at all at night, are you not?" Edna suddenly asked. Agatha stared at her, dumbfounded, then annoyed. Why did _everyone_ know her weak point? Was there some sort of black market for deep dark secrets? Deflated, she nodded her head. "Well! I will make your entire suit out of SOLAR PANELS. Then you will be able to fight at night, at least a little! Solar power is weak, yes?"

"Will it cost more?" the flustered super asked skeptically.

"DAHHHLING, you are my favorite super that uses solar power!" Edna grinned.

"I'm the ONLY super that uses solar power," Agatha snapped.

"If you INSIST, I shall do it! Now run along, dahhhling, your suit will be done tomorrow!" Edna smiled, running away whilst muttering about the design to herself, as if Agatha had begged her to do it. Rolling her eyes with a smile, Agatha headed out of the mansion.

Being unable to do any hero work, she headed home for a much-needed nap, but ended up staying awake worrying about things instead. Like how she would face The Boss, whom she now knew was Gazerbeam, on Monday. And what she would say to Gazerbeam, whom she now knew was The Boss, when he saw that she could fight at night. _At least a little._ Edna's words repeated in her head. And why she kept thinking about Gazerbeam all the time.

--

The next day at around 2 in the afternoon, Agatha got a call from Edna, who sounded terribly excited. "It's wonderful, WONDERFUL, dahhhling! You must see it! Come now!" she said, very quickly, before hanging up the phone without letting Agatha answer. Agatha took the bus over to Edna's estate and was ushered in without a fuss.

"So where's this _phenomenal_ supersuit you want me to see?" she asked sarcastically, her voice echoing in the large room.

"Over here, dahhhling, over here." Edna smiled, leading Agatha into a special room. There was a supersuit hung up on the wall, baby blue and yellow in color. The outfit itself was blue, but it had a large letter A on the front in yellow, and the head covering was also yellow.

"Is that thing really made out of solar panels?" Agatha asked incredulously.

"Of course, dahhhling! Micro-sized ones for your convenience and comfort." Edna explained, though Agatha knew that the woman was only showing off. "You can always bring it back if it doesn't work, but I know it will. By the way, I made the head covering so you can tuck your long hair inside a pocket. Don't want it getting snagged or something."

"How much do I owe you?" Agatha asked, taking the suit down from the wall. Such a beautiful suit, it was probably at least 10 times more expensive than her last suit.

"Nothing at all, dahling." Edna said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What?" Agatha was surprised. "Why?"

"Oh, Apogee." Edna laughed. "You know that making suits for you kids, seeing you all so happy…that's better than any money you could ever give me." She was serious for once, the fact of which was probably more surprising than her not charging Agatha for the suit. "Don't embarrass me, dahhhling! Go fight crime and kick butt!"

Agatha turned to leave, filled with a happy feeling, but Edna had one last thing to say.

"Oh, and Apogee? Good luck with Gazerbeam."

Fuming, she vowed to find that secret contacts network of Edna's and make them all pay.


	6. The Thrilling Three

**Chapter Six – The Thrilling Three**

It wasn't until much later in the day that Agatha could try out her new supersuit. Strangely enough, even the criminals thought better than to strike on a Sunday, a day where all the supers were free from their normal jobs (except Universal Man, who had no 'normal' job to speak of) and were roaming about. The Phantasmics and Beta Force, the 2 only super groups yet made, were on a much-needed vacation, so the rest of the supers were left to defend the city themselves.

Deciding to take a little break herself, though remaining in uniform just in case, Agatha invited Elastigirl out for an early dinner at a little restaurant where they wouldn't be bothered by paparazzi. Elastigirl loudly commented during the conversation that it was much better 'without the noisy groups squawkin' about". She had never taken much stock in the super groups, even though she herself had been invited to several…Elastigirl was very attractive, and highly sought after.

As for Apogee, she would've loved to be part of a super team. Of course, since she could only fight when the sun was out, the other supers were slow to warm up to her. They liked her as a person (or potential girlfriend, whichever came first), but doubted her super abilities. With a smirk, Agatha relished the thought that they might now respect her a little bit more.

At nearly 8 o'clock, Agatha heard the sound of fire truck sirens wailing. She and Elastigirl quickly exchanged glances, and then left the restaurant as Agatha quickly yelled "PUT IT ON MY TAB!" to which the store owner replied "YOU DON'T HAVE A TAB!" Agatha didn't hear this part, however, as she was already halfway down the street.

Soon enough, she and Elastigirl arrived at a burning apartment building. Fearing the worst, she asked the nearest fireman, "Was there anyone inside?"

"There's a little brother and sister in there, but we can't get inside! It's too dangerous!" he didn't say what he was thinking, but Agatha knew that the fire department would rather have 2 children die than risk the lives of the firefighters. With a loud sigh, Agatha took a deep breath and ran into the building despite loud protests from the fireman and Elastigirl.

Though it was clearly over 110 degrees Fahrenheit, Agatha wasn't as discomforted as she would've expected. Heat had never been too much of a problem for her; she drew her powers from the sun, which was millions of times hotter than anything you could find on earth. Her ears perked up as she heard the sounds of crying from a nearby room. Dodging falling rafters and mini-fires all over the place, she found the 2 children in a corner. The brother, the older of the 2, was frantically shaking his sister by the shoulders. He looked up when he saw Apogee and cried, "She collapsed and won't wake up!"

Agatha put 2 fingers in front of the girl's nose, and then shook her head. "She's still breathing, but we've got to get out of here fast before she gets smoke poisoning!" The boy nodded and got up off the ground. Agatha gently picked the girl up and slung her over one shoulder and ran towards the door, supporting the girl's head with one hand.

Suddenly, the boy yelled "WATCH OUT!" and Agatha looked up just in time to see a rafter fall down. In a moment's time, she thrust her free hand out and used her powers to hold up the ceiling beam. She knew that she couldn't run without letting the building completely collapse, so she tilted her shoulders and let the girl slide down into her brother's arms.

"Take your sister and run! I have to hold up this beam or we'll all die!" she told the boy. He hesitated, knowing that it wasn't right to leave her by herself. Angrily, Agatha snapped, "GO NOW OR YOU WON'T MAKE IT!" Finally, the boy ran and safely made it out the door. When he was gone, Agatha did a few calculations in her head.

Since the sun wasn't out, her powers wouldn't last very long, and it would take at least 30 seconds to make it out the door…would the ceiling hold for 30 seconds or take 30 seconds to collapse?

"APOGEE!" she heard a yell from outside. She knew that yell.

"GAZERBEAM!" she yelled back. Agatha knew he couldn't come in and save her. Gazerbeam couldn't save her this time. "Don't come in!" There was just a nanosecond's pause.

"If you die here, I'll never forgive you!"

Her heart skipped a beat. Looking up at the rafter, which was starting to quiver, then looking to the door, Agatha knew that it was now or never. She inhaled a deep breath, filled with smoke, and ran for the door. Agatha ran headfirst into Gazerbeam, and the building collapsed just as she felt his arms around her. She felt his warmth for just a few moments before she started coughing from the smoke poisoning.

"Here, let me help," Stormicide came into view and helped pull the CO2 from Agatha's lungs. Agatha coughed a little bit more, still out of breath, and then thanked Stormicide kindly.

"Apogee, that there was pretty impressive," drawled a male voice. Agatha turned around in Gazerbeam's arms to see Dynaguy beaming at her.

"Indeed…I didn't know you could use your powers when the sun was down." Gazerbeam added softly. Agatha pulled away gently and smiled.

"I got a new suit from E," she explained. "It absorbs solar power during the day, so I can use my powers at night…sort of like battery-power."

"I'd been meaning to ask you…" Dynaguy's slight accent was amusing, especially when he was trying to be serious. "Would you like to join a little group I've been planning?"

"You mean like a super group?" Agatha asked, full of hope.

"That's just the kind," he smiled genuinely. "Me and The Phylange, we thought it'd be boring just having 2 people…it'd be kinda like Blazestone and Universal Man in Beta Force. But we thought if we had 3 people…it would be sort of special."

She took only a moment to decide. "I'd love to, Dynaguy. Thanks so much for asking."

"Hey, don't even worry about it. Your powers are awesome. We'll be…the Thrilling Three. Yeah, there's a good name."

Agatha, as well as the rest of the supers, knew that Dynaguy wasn't exactly the best person to choose names for things. Here was a man who picked his superhero name after sitting in the diner for hours staring at things. She shuddered at the thought of what his children's names would be. Still, she didn't have much room to complain, she had gotten what she wanted and had a group. "It's a wonderful name, Dyna."

She turned to look at Gazerbeam, to see his reaction, but he had a strange look on his face. If she didn't know better, she'd say that he looked jealous. Agatha dismissed this thought with a mental laugh; Gazerbeam would never think of her as more than a friend, at most. A secretary, maybe, if the lawyer ever found out.

"The Thrilling Three…I think we'll make headlines." Agatha laughed.


	7. A Heart’s Heavy Burden

I know that on the DVD it says that the Thrilling Three Towers were in the nation's capitol, but how would they travel back and forth between D.C. and Metroville? Transportation technology wasn't _that_ great in the 1950's, the supers just had a few neat little gizmos and gadgets because they were supers. I try to stick as close to the NSA files as possible with character personalities, powers, costumes, and whatnot, but this made no sense to me and had to be changed for the sake of this story. Sorry if you don't like this, believe me, I don't like it either.

**Chapter Seven – A Heart's Heavy Burden**

And so, as fate would have it, the first 2 people that would learn of Apogee's secret identity would be a good-natured, but not too bright, construction worker and a _male_ opera singer with a serious inferiority complex. If it were up to Agatha, she would've been happier if nobody knew about her non-super life, but as she was now a part of The Thrilling Three, it was imperative that the 3 teammates know each other's identities in case of emergency.

Dynaguy had rented out something called The Thrilling Three Towers smack dab in the middle of Metroville, which served as their headquarters. It had cameras that watched over the city, and was connected to the police and fire stations, as well as the hospitals of Metroville. If anything were to happen, The Thrilling Three would know about it. There was also a pending communications link between The Thrilling Three Towers and the Beta Force and The Phantasmics' headquarters, as well.

As a finishing touch, a short-distance teleporter (state-of-the-art technology) had been added to her apartment room so that she could instantly travel to The Thrilling Three Towers when called. It was free of charge, though Agatha had to wish that she could've had it route to other places as well. Agent Dicker, the man in charge of the supers' funding and negotiations, had told her that transportation technology was still in its development stages, and as of right now, teleporters could only go to one place, and that place had to be within a 5-mile radius.

Agatha now had Mark Harris (Dynaguy) and Felix Ricatto (The Phylange) on her telephone's speed-dial, and she walked around her modest apartment with Agent Dicker to observe the new changes. "Are you sure you don't want an automobile? It would make things a lot easier on you. You're young, and you can't spend too much time walking around in the sun," Rick reasoned.

Agatha shook her head with a smile. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to say no. I like the sun, you might have realized, and I don't have the money for a car,"

"The NSA would be happy to suck the funds from the taxpayers for you," he laughed in reply. Agatha chuckled a little, but still refused. "Well, if you're that adamant, there's not much I can do about it."

"Rick, a beautiful gal like me's got plenty of men waiting on her hand and foot. Walking's the only way I can stay fit. Nobody likes a fat super saving the day," she joked.

--

The next day, Agatha was back at work. Strangely enough, even though she now knew that The Boss was Gazerbeam, it didn't affect the way she acted towards him at all. Lately the entire firm had been working on a rather tough case, and Mr. Paladino had been seriously stressed out. They were suing a large corporate company (Washington Energy) that had allegedly been dumping radioactive waste into a lake in a nearby town. Despite her good intentions, Agatha could do little for The Boss, as she was only a secretary. Still, she tried to be extra neat and tidy, and was careful not to be late to work again.

Agatha glanced at her watch, which also had a beeper connected to The Thrilling Three Towers. It was nearly 12 o'clock, now. In the past, staying past 6 PM had annoyed Agatha to no end. She found it strange that she was now working 6 hours overtime and didn't care. Agatha got up out of her chair to go brew some coffee, and on her way back, found Mr. Paladino still in his office. "Sir?"

Mr. Paladino jumped, as if he had been in a trance and she had called him out of it. "Agatha. You're still here?"

"Well, yes. I was filing more papers from the Washington case." She explained. Agatha walked over and set a mug of coffee on his desk.

The Boss stared at the mug tentatively for a few seconds, then sighed and took a sip. "That damn case has us working all sorts of odd hours, eh?"

"Well, you know what the Spanish say: 'A happy death is better than a lawsuit.'" Agatha grinned. "You should probably go home, sir. I'm not sure the employees would like you being cranky tomorrow. Tough day ahead."

"I think I _will_ do that, Agatha. Wonderful idea." Mr. Paladino yawned, then took another gulp of coffee. "And you know what the Chinese say, 'It's better to enter the mouth of a tiger than a court of law.' Tomorrow's going to be hell. You don't look so great yourself."

"Your sense of humor is improving, sir." Agatha interjected politely. "Well, I'm going to go back to my office and finish putting things together, then I'll head home as well." Mr. Paladino got up before her, and they both walked out of the room.

Just as Agatha was about to go in the opposite direction to her room, Mr. Paladino said softly, "You know you can trust me, right, Agatha? If there's ever anything on your mind, you have but to tell me." Agatha, with a maelstrom of emotions rushing through her, nodded. Mr. Paladino smiled, and the 2 went their separate ways.

As soon as Agatha entered her office, her beeper went off. Agatha quickly shut the door and pushed the receive button, speaking into it: "Yes?"

"Apogee! Bomb Voyage is back. You better get down to the art museum, quick!" The Phylange yelled over the communicator.

"I'm on my way, Phylange," she replied. Thoughts of the case vanished from her mind as she undid her blouse and pulled down her skirt to reveal the blue and yellow supersuit beneath. Agatha was about to put on the goggles and head covering when the door opened. Instinctively, Agatha froze.

In the doorway was Mr. Paladino. _Oh no, how could I be so careless? STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!_ She thought to herself. "I—"

"I was about to come in to thank you for the coffee. What an idiot." He laughed, though it sounded forced, cutting her off. "You're Apogee?" he asked. His voice was hoarse. So different from the strong, confident Gazerbeam she knew.

"Gazerbeam, I—"

"You mean all this time you were my secretary, and you didn't tell me?" he questioned incredulously. Agatha wanted to scream.

"All this time? I've only known about your super identity since Saturday!" she argued. Mr. Paladino threw his hands into the air in frustration.

"But you knew! That moment when you woke up and saw me, you knew! Why didn't you say anything? I trusted you! Both of you!" his tone was desperate, pleading. Agatha knew that there was no lying. Nothing could get her out of this one.

"Am I supposed to tell you everything? So what if you're my boss, it doesn't change our relationship! It's not my duty to tell you about my private life!" she yelled, equally frustrated. Why was he getting angry with her? Why did he have to be so difficult?

Mr. Paladino laughed, his voice a bitter sound. "Is that all I am? Your boss? The man that supplies your paycheck? _Is that all I am to you?_ I've saved your life!"

Agatha couldn't deny that Gazerbeam had been more than a friend to her. Yes, he was annoying. Yes, he was terribly overbearing. Yes, if he said that joke about the electron again, she'd probably beat him. But to her, he was…what?

"You're my boss! A fellow super! Nothing more than that!" Her voice was shrill, and it hurt her heart to say these words. But they were the truth…weren't they? "What are you going to do about it?"

Mr. Paladino stared at her through his sunglasses, and Agatha knew that if he hadn't been wearing them, she'd already be a pile of ashes due to the intense gaze. The 2 supers were frozen in place, tempers flaring and confusion ruling over all other emotions. "What do I want to do about it?" he asked, his voice soft. In just a few footsteps, Mr. Paladino closed the distance between them. He slipped his arm around her back and pulled her to him, giving her a deep kiss. It was over as quickly as it began, however, and Mr. Paladino pulled away before Agatha had a chance to react. "Damn it all," he muttered, and strode out of the room, slamming the door.

Agatha stood where she had been…frozen to the spot. "Apogee? Where are you!" Dynaguy and The Phylange were yelling at her through the comm-link. But Agatha didn't hear them…she was in another world, far far away, and the hollow place, where she knew her heart should be, ached.


	8. To Err is Human, To Forgive, Divine

Yes, I realize that the last chapter was sort of angsty. Rest assured, there will be few chapters with that level of dramatic-ness. Seeing as I intend this fic to go all the way until Gazerbeam dies, though, there will be a little more later.

**Chapter Eight – To Err is Human, To Forgive, Divine**

Agatha's excuse to Dynaguy and The Phylange was that her supersuit hadn't saved up enough solar power, so she couldn't get there fast enough without the use of her levitation powers. Also, she reasoned, she would've been pretty useless had she been there. _Useless. Funny how some words keep popping up._ She'd thought to herself.

Hours later, Agatha was at her apartment again. She called in sick, though she knew her absence would probably not be too devastating for the firm. Mr. Paladino and his associates would be in court that day, anyway. Agatha was still rather confused. She couldn't understand why Gazerbeam had made such a big deal out of finding out that she'd hidden her secret from him. It was her right, wasn't it, to hide her identity? Why did men have to be so pig-headed all of the time?

Deciding that moping around would do her little good, Agatha called up Everseer. "Everseer? It's Apogee. I need your help."

"Help? Whatever for? You know I can't fight." He quipped over the phone.

"Not _that_ kind of help. I mean HELP. You're a shrink, right?" she snapped.

Everseer sighed, and there was a long pause. "I _prefer_ the term 'psychiatrist', if you wouldn't mind, Apogee. And seeing as you're asking me for my help, you don't have to be so snappish."

"Are you free today or not?" she asked him.

"Yes, yes. Come on over. Oh…make sure you bathe first, you know I hate germs." He reminded her, voice dripping with disdain. Agatha had always found his germophobia hilarious. Did he not realize that bacteria were in the very air he breathed? The only way that he could totally avoid the microscopic creatures was to live in a bubble and receive pure air from a tank. No super, however, would subject himself to such treatment. Agatha grabbed a towel from her closet and went to take a shower.

--

"So, just what is your problem? Tell me about your childhood." Everseer said in soothing tones.

Agatha rolled her eyes. "I'm not psychotic, for heaven's sakes. I'm just a little confused and don't know where I am in life right now."

"Ah…it's Gazerbeam, isn't it?" he asked softly.

Apparently Everseer had hit the nail on the head, because Agatha sat up immediately and yelled, "Don't read my mind without my permission, Everseer!"

"It's my right, it says so in the fine print on the contract you signed." He grinned, holding out the multi-paged contract Agatha had signed just minutes before.

Agatha grabbed the papers and looked them over. In line 16, it stated that Everseer would and could read a patient's mind in order to help them. "You sneaky weasel." She said acidly. "Yes, it's Gazerbeam."

"You know, if it's love troubles, you might want to talk to Psycwave, instead. I'm not too good with matters like these." Everseer sighed for the upteenth time. Agatha thought of the gossip-loving, condescending, selfish Psycwave and decided to pass. Everseer, though strange, was infinitely more reliable. "You know, I wouldn't worry so much about it."

"I'm just confused, I guess. I really want answers, because I don't know how I feel, and I definitely don't know how he feels." It was Agatha's turn to sigh.

Everseer chuckled. "If you want to know how you feel, you have but to look inside yourself. If you want to know how Gazerbeam feels, it won't help talking to me. Trust me, Apogee, things have a way of sorting themselves out."

--

Agatha sat herself in the last row of seats in the courtroom. She had changed into a more professional-looking outfit, and blended perfectly into the crowd. Mr. Paladino was at the front of the room, questioning a witness who worked at Washington Energy. He looked nervous, and Agatha didn't blame him. It wasn't exactly cake going against a multi-billion-dollar corporate company. Sunglasses also were very un-professional looking, so he had to do all his work without them: at the risk of burning somebody up.

"No further questions, your honor." She heard him say, and he sat down at the prosecution's table. He turned for just a moment, and she could've sworn that he saw her, but if he did, Mr. Paladino didn't react in the least.

"This court will adjourn. We will re-convene tomorrow at noon. Dismissed."

Agatha stood up so she could catch Mr. Paladino on his way out, but he was bombarded by the news media as they followed him out of the courtroom and down the steps in the front. Agatha knew that she just _had_ to talk to him. As Mr. Paladino was about to get into his car, she stopped him. "Gazerbeam," she hissed, her voice barely above a whisper.

The Boss stared at her. "Agatha? What is it?"

"I need to talk to you."

Mr. Paladino looked at the paparazzi right behind her. "You have to? Now?" Agatha vigorously nodded her head, and he sighed in reply. "Fine then, get in." Agatha opened the car door and got into the passenger seat. "Any particular place you want to go?" he asked, putting on a pair of sunglasses.

"Not at all, as long as you're there."

"I'm flattered. We'll go to the park, then." His voice had a strange tone, and she couldn't place it. "You don't mind walking around, do you?"

Agatha looked down at her high heels. Her feet didn't matter, really. "Nope."

They soon arrived at the Metroville Park, a beautiful haven with tall trees, flowers along the trail, and a little playground for children. If this had been a date, Agatha mused, it would've been perfect. "I'm…sorry. About last night, and the night before that, and all the other times I've been a terrible person to you." He told her as they walked.

"Gazerbeam."

"No, let me finish. I was just…so stressed out, and my mind wasn't working right. And you know, I…I don't know how to reconcile these feelings I have." His words came out stuck together, as if they were just spilling out of his mouth.

"You seem to be apologizing a lot lately." She laughed lightly. "The Gazerbeam I know would never have apologized to me." Agatha avoided the last part of what he'd said. It was too sudden. Sure, they'd been ally supers for a long time, but she didn't know him that well. There was attraction, but was that enough?

"Or anybody else, for that matter. I guess I've just been changing," he chuckled. "So have you, actually."

"I've been a little too emotional lately, for my taste." She grumbled.

"PMS?"

"Not funny," Agatha snapped. There was a silence as Mr. Paladino started walking faster and got slightly ahead. "I apologize, too." She whispered to his back. He stopped mid-step.

"So, what do we do now?" he asked, still not facing her. "You don't…I mean…"

"To be honest, I don't know." She called out. Mr. Paladino turned around to face her. There were quite a few feet between them. "I don't know how I feel."

"You know how I feel, don't you?" he asked her.

"Yes, but I don't know. I just…not yet."

Mr. Paladino shrugged. "I don't need your answer now. Just for your forgiveness."

"You have that." She assured him.

"As you have mine," he smiled. Mr. Paladino looked at his watch. "I really need to be going." He waved and started off.

"G-good luck at court tomorrow!" she tried to run after him, but tripped over something and fell on her face. Mr. Paladino turned around again and was immediately at her side. Agatha tried to stand, but her ankle was throbbing. It wasn't serious, but it hurt.

With amused exasperation, Mr. Paladino scooped her up off the ground into his arms. "Really, you can't do anything without me, can you?" He laughed, carrying her back to the car. Agatha leaned against him, feigning weakness, and in her mind, she was thanking Everseer.


	9. Crescentia

I noticed, after reading Inspector Brown's review, that I _am_ terribly inconsistent with the whole numbers thing. I say Thrilling Three, and Chapter Nine, but I use digits in the rest of the fic. headdesk Will fix that, thanks for pointing it out.

**Chapter Nine – Crescentia**

Agatha's ankle had proven to be of little consequence. After a good night's sleep, it stopped bothering her. Agatha had gone back to work, secretly hoping that Mr. Paladino's trial would go well. During her lunch break, she took a few minutes to call Everseer to thank him for his help. Everseer only laughed and said "Heaven helps those who help themselves."

As soon as work was over, Agatha diligently began the walk to The Thrilling Three Towers. She felt guilty for skipping out on them that other night, and was trying to make up for it. Bomb Voyage _had_ been caught, thanks to Dynaguy, but had managed to break out of prison with a bang. Literally. Legislature had yet to approve strip-searching prisoners before letting them stay at the jails. A pity.

She walked into her tower and quickly changed into her super suit. She took the elevator up to the 6th floor and sat herself down in front of the computer to keep watch. Momentarily, she saw The Phylange appear on her screen. "Apogee?"

"Who else would it be?" she snapped, suddenly annoyed.

"Just checking." He shrugged. The Phylange leaned back into his chair and put his feet up on the computer console. Agatha had the slight impression that he was trying to act cool, but at the same time, she knew that he was doing a terrible job of it.

"It's my turn for guard duty today, Phylange," she informed him, rolling her eyes at his unnecessary bravado.

"Hey, I figured you might need me here," he stammered, voice tone showing that he was unsure of what he was saying.

"Why would I? The sun is still out, and will be for a few more hours," she reminded him, pulling off her gloves and examining her nails out of boredom. Agatha had always spent much too much time on her appearance. She supposed that it came with being blonde. The Phylange didn't bother answering her question, just closed his eyes.

--

It turned out, much to Agatha's relief (as well as that of the rest of the firm), that Mr. Paladino did, in fact, win his case. As such, he was subjected to an endless onslaught of news media for the rest of the week and hate letters from the families of Washington Energy's staff. "There's a good and bad side to every coin. Sure, I stopped a bunch of people from getting poisoned, but I also caused a bunch of people to lose their jobs," he had said to Agatha bitterly right before a mob of paparazzi burst in through the door Thursday morning. She didn't understand how the famous supers could stand it. On the one hand, they were assaulted by the media when in costume, which was normal, yet they were subject to the same treatment in their private lives, as well. When did they ever catch a break? _I would hate it_ Agatha thought, _if my entire life was watched by a camera crew_. When she had a spare moment, she brewed more coffee and filed away all the hate mail to spare The Boss a little.

--

Agatha was walking back to her apartment after a shift at the Towers; it was nearly midnight, and her feet ached from being in those pointy boots (for what supersuit was complete without _boots_?) for so long.

"My, my. What's a little solar-powered super like you doing outside in the moonlight?" a voice called out. A shiver went down Agatha's spine; the voice sounded like poisoned chocolate. Warily, she turned around.

On the flat rooftop of the building next to her, a woman was standing, arms crossed, and hair blowing in the wind. The woman was beautiful, probably one of the most attractive Agatha had ever seen. Her hair was an indigo colour, sparkling by the light of a lamppost nearby, and was very long, almost to her knees. She, too, was in costume, though the design reeked of something sinister. Agatha felt uneasy watching her. "What, cat got your tongue?" the woman laughed haughtily.

Agatha shook her head, though she was unsure of whether the woman saw. "Hardly. You're new around here, aren't you?"

"You could say that," the other smiled, playing with her hair. Agatha was getting pretty sick of her Holier-Than-Thou attitude. Squinting, she could see a butterfly insignia on the woman's chest. "It's a lunar moth." The woman explained, noting Agatha's stare.

"Who are you?" Agatha asked, her voice a mere whisper. She was getting more and more nervous by the second.

The air around the woman glowed and as she thrust her right arm forward, it collected into a beam and shot at Agatha, hitting her in the chest. Surprised by the sudden attack, Agatha could see the world turning black around her. "I am the shadow of all that is holy. I am the moon in the night sky. I am Crescentia."

--

The first thing she noticed as she awoke was that there was a terrible pain in the middle of her chest. Initially, Agatha thought that there was something wrong with her lungs, as she was rewarded with a sharp pain every time she inhaled or exhaled. Soon, however, it was clear that whatever she did that involved her chest gave her pain. She opened her eyes and blinked tentatively, instantly noticing that she had been resting against a lamppost. Memories flooded her mind of the night before, and one name stood out in her mind: _Crescentia_.

Cursing her own stupidity, Agatha lifted herself off the ground. At least she had been in her supersuit…Crescentia didn't know about her true identity yet. Why had the woman been so hostile? Was she really another super hero simply trying to lay down the law in a new town…or a super villain against whom Agatha would have to fight? Neither prospect seemed too good to her, and it was a very annoyed Agatha that got home and had to call in sick for work again. She was too drained to do much of anything, let alone work.

Agatha called Dynaguy, who was currently on shift at The Thrilling Three Towers, and asked him to do a search on Crescentia. Nothing showed up, and Agatha sighed. Whoever she was, this Crescentia really _was_ new on the scene. She made a mental note to be more wary, then collapsed onto her bed and slept.


	10. Minime Fortis

My Latin may be a little off, seeing as how I went the whole summer without studying my declensions, but as far as I know, "minime fortis" means "not strong enough".

**Chapter Ten – Minime Fortis**

"Agatha, put these papers into the Ingerbritzen file, would you?" Mr. Paladino asked her. Agatha nodded and quickly put the documents away. Odd, it seemed, that her life as a super never crossed over into her life as a normal human being. Despite her eventful encounter with Crescentia, Agatha's alter ego's life was getting more and more monotonous and mundane. Right when Agatha was about to fall asleep out of boredom, Mr. Paladino dropped by again. "Hey…are you free after work today?"

"Yeah, it's," she paused to make sure nobody else was within earshot, "Phylange's turn to keep watch. Why?"

"Oh, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner with me or something," he smiled, though he didn't seem too confident. She couldn't blame him, of course.

Agatha laughed. "Or something? Ok, _Casanova_. It's a date." Brightening considerably, Mr. Paladino waved at her genially and walked out. When he was gone, Agatha was confused. She wasn't exactly desperate for a date; on the contrary, her blond hair and blue eyes earned her many a suitor. So why had she said yes to _him_?

--

At promptly seven o'clock, The Boss swung by Agatha's office to pick her up, knowing full well that she had no car. Thankfully, by the end of the week, the news media had become less obsessed with their charismatic, corporate evil-fighting lawyer, so they were now leaving him well alone. Agatha got into Mr. Paladino's car, a (probably expensive) black corvette, and they drove off. For one reason or another, they sat in companionable silence, unable to pull a conversation together. Soon enough, the call pulled in front of a fancy-looking Italian restaurant and Agatha gasped. "You can't take me here! This place is so _expensive_! I hear that some of the dishes are 150 dollars per!"

"Do you have any idea how much money I made off of the Washington Energy case?" he asked quietly. Agatha stopped babbling. "Agatha, I'm a lawyer. And a good lawyer, at that. I hardly have to worry about money, you know?" Though she could no longer argue, Agatha still was annoyed. Above all else, she hated feeling like a damsel in distress. Being pampered bothered her deeply.

Once they had been seated, Agatha tentatively sifted through the menu. She at once decided that she wanted to order the cheapest dish available. Mr. Paladino must have noticed this, because he sighed, "I'd rather you order something with an outrageous price and eat it, rather than order a cheap dish and waste the food."

Again, she could not deny his logic. Agatha was getting under the impression that Mr. Paladino was accustomed to getting his way and settling arguments with mere sentences. She frowned, and started going through the whole menu. Like most image-conscious women of the day, she liked to eat foods like chicken and fish. Beef was too heavy to her, and large pasta dishes were much too filling. After a few minutes' of glossing over the menu, Agatha decided on the vegetarian lasagna and told Mr. Paladino. He flagged down a waiter and said suavely, "Desideriamo il lasagna di verdure e gli spaghetti con le carne."

"Sì signore, grazie." The waiter said with a bow, scribbling their orders down onto a little notepad and hurrying off. He had seemed slightly intimidated, probably because Mr. Paladino was wearing his dark sunglasses again.

Agatha looked at The Boss, impressed. "I didn't know you spoke Italian," she confided.

"There's lots of things about me you don't know," he grinned in reply.

"The same can be said of me," Agatha shrugged. "Everybody has their secrets." Though she inwardly agreed that she didn't know too much about Gazerbeam, there was no way she'd ever tell him that. At this point, she still liked to disagree with him out of spite.

"Oh, I know plenty enough about you. You're pretty easy to figure out, really. You let all your feelings show right on your face." He pointed out, chuckling.

"I resent that!" Agatha replied, offended. She liked to think that she was good at concealing her emotions, and had done a good job of it in the past, as far as she knew.

"Resent it all you like, my dear, it doesn't change the truth,"

"Mr. Paladino—"

The Boss abruptly cut her off. "I have a name, you know. You _always_ call me 'Mr. Paladino' or 'Gazerbeam'." He said the latter very quietly.

Agatha swallowed the lump in her throat. "Simon, isn't it?"

"Yes, so why don't you call me that instead? Are we that formal?" he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"No, I suppose not. We've fought 'side by side' for several years now," she conceded. Agatha paused to take a sip of her complimentary glass of water. "Though...it doesn't seem right calling you anything but Gazerbeam, I guess." She lowered her voice, quickly glancing around to check for eavesdroppers. Agatha needn't have worried, though, there were very few people in the restaurant to begin with (it was very expensive), and the few that were there were happily chatting away.

"Do you think that we're normal people that have a super alter ego, or supers with a normal alter ego?" he asked seriously, at ease after Agatha shook her head to show that there was nobody listening. Sge considered his question for a moment. Obviously, she was usually Apogee by day and Agatha by night, since her power used sunlight. But most other supers only used their powers and dressed in costume when absolutely necessary. So it was a fair question, and she wasn't quite sure of the answer.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I think that I'm Apogee, otherwise known as Agatha. I feel like I can be myself more with my goggles on."

"Do you? Don't you feel more pressured as a super? When you're a 'super hero', every one expects you to win over evil all the time. Good _always_ triumphs over evil. Whereas if you make a mistake as a normal person, it's expected and nothing really happens to you," he sighed. "Sometimes I wonder...if we're out there saving people all the time, who's there to save _us_?"

Agatha stared at him for a few moments, taking in what he'd said. "Your life isn't like that, though, is it? You're pressured in both lives."

Simon laughed. "I suppose that's true." It was funny that Agatha had just been thinking about that very subject just a few hours before.

"But...I think that if we're always out there saving people, we have to rely on each other. No super can win wars by themselves, and we always need someone to watch our backs." She decided. "It's what we do...we're a family." And she truly felt that way. All the supers from Blazestone to Universal Man...they were all connected by their common powers and interests: to protect the hope of mankind.

"Apogee." Simon took a deep breath, breaking her from her thoughts. "I _promise_. If you _ever_ need me, I _will_ be there for you. I guarantee it." She had never heard him so serious before, and she _knew_ that he could be pretty serious.

"And," Agatha said slowly. "If you're ever in trouble, I'll back you up, Gazerbeam." They shared a smile, and Agatha could feel a _connection_ forming between them. She was just about to say that when the glass window next to them shattered. Agatha thought that she heard him say her name, but it was just a whisper and in the next second, it was gone like a vanished puff of smoke, hidden underneath the loud yells of surprise from the people around them. Instinctively, Agatha did a sideways-somersault out of her chair and onto the ground. She snuck underneath the table and removed her outer layer of clothing, quickly slipping on the head covering and goggles. She rolled out from under the table again and stood up. Agatha looked to her left and saw Gazerbeam, fully costumed. She took slow steps towards the broken window...

"So, we meet again, Sunshine." An amused voice said in a sultry tone. Agatha winced, quickly connecting the voice with its owner.

Agatha checked the gauge on the wrist-side of her right glove to see how much solar power she had stored in the suit. It wasn't too high; she'd probably last for about 10 minutes, at most. She turned around to the people behind her. "Everyone, I suggest you evacuate the vicinity." There was a long pause, people unsure about whether they really wanted to leave. "I SAID 'LEAVE'! OR DO YOU NOT VALUE YOUR LIVES?" she yelled at them when they didn't immediately run. She had to admit, though, that it was rather amusing watching the Metroville upper class scramble to leave the restaurant. Agatha knew _she_ wouldn't have liked running around in the high heels that the women had. She slowly turned back to the window. In a tone suggesting fatigue, she said "I was wondering when we'd meet again...we had so much _fun_ last time, Crescentia."

"I figure," Crescentia said with a shrug, "That we were made for each other, Sunshine. You use the power of sunlight," The air around her started to glow, and Agatha tensed in anticipation. "And I use the power of moonlight." The air stopped its glowing, and Agatha relaxed. Crescentia looked as if she were enjoying tormenting Agatha.

"My name is Apogee." Agatha responded, teeth clenched. She thought back to the conversation about names that she had had with Gazerbeam just minutes before.

"Oh, I know. I just like calling you Sunshine. In fact, I'd even let you call me Moonshine, except that has a pretty negative connotation,"

_Again with the I'm-Better-Than-You attitude._ Agatha thought bitterly. "What do you want?"

"I'm here," Crescentia laughed, voice clear as bells, "For the Italian jewels. They used to belong to Queen Isabel, you know? Worth a _fortune_."

Agatha furrowed her brow in confusion, though this could not be seen due to her goggles. "What jewels? Why would they be _here_?"

"Oh, so _you_ don't even know? What's the use of having those big, ugly towers smack dab in the middle of the city if the city doesn't even tell you anything?" Crescentia smiled pityingly.

The comment stung, and Agatha felt as if she had been slapped. And how did Crescentia know so much? She was about to open her mouth to say something when Gazerbeam interrupted, "The jewels aren't here...Crescentia, was it?"

Crescentia turned her head to face Gazerbeam. She brightened, as if happy to have found someone at her mental level. "You remember well. So...you're Gazerbeam, right? _You_ know about the jewels, of course. What do you mean they're not here?"

Gazerbeam glanced at Agatha, who had her mouth open at him in disbelief. "We...we anticipated your coming, so the jewels were re-located,"

Crescentia hmmph'ed in frustration, stamping her foot against the floor. "Damn! I suppose that means that I'll have to do some more poking around to find them, huh?"

"Why go through all this? Wouldn't it be easier to do it more stealthily?" Gazerbeam demanded.

She seemed to give this some serious thought, at least for a moment. "I suppose...but conquest without effort is like victory without glory." She looked Agatha right in the eye. "It's more fun to annoy little Sunshine here. Bye, little Sunshine!" Crescentia started to glow, and then she floated up and away into the night sky.

Even when she was gone, Agatha could not move from the spot she had been rooted to, and her blood felt like ice swimming through her veins.

"Apogee." She heard Gazerbeam, but he sounded far away.

"Why...why wasn't I told about any of this?" she asked, her voice hoarse. Gazerbeam sighed, hearing her hurt tone. She asked, but she knew the answer. Agatha wasn't exactly a "dumb blond", she knew when she was being left out of the loop.

"I...told Dynaguy not to say anything. Well, we both agreed. You can't fight her, Apogee, she's very powerful, and she can attack you with full force when all you have is stored energy!" he explained, trying to make her understand. "We didn't want you to get hurt."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that Gazerbeam was being logical, but she didn't care. Beneath his words, he was trying to say that she was _weak._ She persisted, "I could attack her when the sun is out...at noon! I'm strongest at noon—"

"Don't you see?" he interrupted her again. "The moon is _always_ out! The sun sets, but the moon...it _never_ dies. Even if we can't see it."

Agatha was stunned into silence, unable to fight against his reasoning, even though she knew it couldn't be totally true. Gazerbeam was always like this, always getting his way. "When...will I stop being the damsel in distress? I...I'm a super, aren't I? Why do you have to protect me all the time?"

In a flash, he was at her side. She felt his warm, strong arms around her, and her head was against his chest. It was a strange feeling Agatha had; she wanted to beat him, make him get off of her, but at the same time, she was wishing that he would never let go. "I made a promise. I said I would always protect you, always be there for you."

"You can't _always_ be here for me; I can't become dependent! What if one day you're not there, what would I do? I have to be strong!" she argued.

"No! You don't have to be strong, not with me. I know you don't feel the same way, but I don't care. I will be here for you _no matter what_, Apogee!" They heard the sound of police sirens in the distance, and he reluctantly let go. Gazerbeam calmly explained the situation to the police officers, who warmly thanked him for getting rid of Crescentia with minimal damage to the restaurant. Once everything was in order and things had been totally taken care of, Gazerbeam walked her home. (if they used the car, it would run the risk of people finding out about their secret identities)

As they walked and Agatha gazed up at the moon that would wane and wax forever, she felt her spirits rise a little. Even if she wasn't an invincible hero, even if she wasn't able to best Crescentia just yet...she was happier than any other super in the world. Yes, she was weak. Gravity control wasn't exactly the most powerful skill among supers. But every time the sun sets, it rises again. Agatha was, in essence, the sun. And she was _not_ going down without a fight.


	11. A Tea Party and a Reality Check

I haven't been keeping great track of the time flow in this fic. :x This chapter takes place in mid-December, so the whole fic has so far been throughout the course of about a month. I'll try to be more careful.

**Chapter Eleven – A Tea Party and a Reality Check**

Every year, the female supers got together for a little tea party. This would take place about a week before the supers' version of Sadie Hawkins, called Superwoman, held on December 23rd. They would discuss things that they couldn't with the men, things like supersuit fashion, who was dating who, and other things of that nature.

Before the whole Crescentia ordeal, Agatha usually spent a month planning what she was going to wear to the tea party, as it was the social highlight of the year for the women supers. However, lately she had been spending so much time worrying about her new enemy that she hadn't even picked out an outfit yet! It was 3 days until the tea party's date on December 15th.

So here she was at Macy's with last month's paycheck, frantically trying to decide which dress looked the best. She laughed to herself while trying to decide between a blue pinafore over a lacy white dress and a red skirt with a white blouse, thinking that she had to be one of the most self-conscious women in Metroville. She finally decided on the former and stopped by a costume store on the way home to pick up a mask that matched. It would be refreshing to attend a supers' event without having to wear her supersuit.

--

"Stratogale, Stormicide, Psycwave, Plasmabolt, Elastigirl, Blazestone, and Apogee. Looks like we're all here!" tittered Psycwave enthusiastically. It was her turn to host the tea party, and she was glad to have the company. They were all dressed beautifully, and fit perfectly at the round table Psycwave had brought in. Each super lady had her choice of raspberry tea, lemon tea, mint tea, and peach tea. Agatha quietly poured herself a cup of raspberry tea, added a few spoonfuls of sugar, and sipped delicately.

"So, it looks like the number of guys this year as gone up, gals," Elastigirl said to the table. "We have more of a selection, you know?"

"Though the quality of the choices hasn't exactly gone up at all," Blazestone mumbled, her words tumbling out of her mouth quick as lightning, as usual. Everybody knew, of course, that she would choose Frozone anyway.

"We'll go through the claims now, so we'll start from Stratogale and go up," Psycwave ordered, drinking a spot of her peach tea.

"I'll take Universal Man, if there aren't any objections." Stratogale was one of the youngest of the supers, only about 16 years old. She had only been a superhero for two years, though last year during the Superwoman, she had opted to not participate.

"Is there…any particular reason?" Stormicide asked, genuinely confused. Universal Man had a massive ego, and the age difference was a palpable problem.

Stratogale smiled nervously. "Well…not…_really_. He doesn't have to say yes, after all."

"Sounds like Gale here has a bit of a crush!" Psycwave laughed. "How cute!" Stratogale turned a bright shade of red, which Psycwave chose to ignore. "Anyway, I guess we're moving on. Stormy?"

"Gamma Jack, of course." She shrugged. Stormicide was a perfect match for Jack. She had a wonderful sense of humor, and was very beautiful. Agatha thought that Jack acted a little bit chauvinistic towards her, but Stormicide didn't seem to mind. Her powers weren't exactly the greatest, only being able to absorb and emit vapors out of the air. As a result, if anything, having Stormicide with him was an ego boost. Nobody argued with her, so Psycwave's turn was next.

"I'll be taking Thunderhead this year," she smiled, laughing a little. Agatha almost choked on her tea.

"_Thunderhead_?" Elastigirl's jaw dropped in shock. "What happened to Everseer?"

Psycwave's face took on a pout as she replied, "I got sick of getting turned down every year. Silly man said he hated crowds…too many—"

"Germs." The entire table spoke in unison.

"Besides," Psycwave went on, "Thunderhead's kinda cute." _At least she won't have to worry about her date being more intelligent than her_. Agatha thought devilishly. There were no objections, of course, and the group moved on to Plasmabolt.

With a nonchalant shrug, she quickly decided on Macroburst, who was her date every year. "We're both androgynous, what can I say?" she joked. Everybody had a healthy laugh before it was Elastigirl's turn.

She stood up and eloquently said: "I'm takin' Incredible, and if any of you guys have a problem with that, you can _shove it_." Then Elastigirl sat down. There were a few awkward moments of silence. "What? I'm not letting anybody else have him!"

"You didn't have to be so…blunt." Stormicide replied, rolling her eyes. Elastigirl shrugged. "Anyway, Blazestone can choose Frozone now." She grinned.

"Hey! JustbecauseIchoseFrozoneeveryyearbeforenowdoesn'tmeanthatI'mgoingtonow. Wewerejustalittleteamforashorttimeduringmyrehab!" She shouted, her words running together. Agatha had to strain to hear, and even then, only understood half of what she'd said.

"Not that I got all of that, but does that mean that you're _not_ choosing Frozone?" Psycwave asked.

"I didn't say I _wasn't_, I was just saying that I might not have." Blazestone tried to slow down her words so that they'd be more intelligible. The table breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll choose Frozone…just because nobody else would have him." The rest of the women exchanged glances, then smiled collectively. They wouldn't say anything, of course. Nobody in his or her right mind argued with Blazestone. She was known for her temper.

"So…Apogee. Who's your prospective date this year?" Psycwave asked with a smug grin. Agatha had gone through several dates over the years…rarely the same one twice. The year before, she had actually gone with Meta Man. None of this was by choice, however, she just hadn't had anybody else to go with. Gazerbeam, last year, had gone with Stormicide. This year, however, he was free…

"Gazerbeam." She said without preamble.

"Wow, good luck with that one," Stormicide laughed, getting the other ladies to join in. Gazerbeam was famous for his lack of a sense of humor, and his strange need to be overly dramatic and serious.

"Oh come on, he's not that bad. He can be really sweet," Agatha replied, trying to defend Gazerbeam's honor. "And in any case, he's the only one I'll go with." She added quietly. He could be serious, and a tad melodramatic, but at least he wasn't _boring_.

Stormicide regarded her carefully. "If that's what you want, Apogee, it's of no consequence. Go with whomever you like." The others nodded their agreement and Agatha smiled brightly, thanking them. They went on talking about other things, teasing Stratogale for going out with Universal Man, and making fun of Thunderhead (much to Psycwave's chagrin). Agatha felt a weight lifted, and finally felt accepted for the first time since she had come to Metroville from Los Angeles.


	12. In Which Agatha Learns Some Things

By the time you read this, chapter 10 and 11 will have been edited. (I decided that I didn't like the ending to 11, either, it didn't fit Agatha's personality.)

**Chapter Twelve – In Which Agatha Learns Some Things**

It was already the middle of December, so the snow had begun to fall. The flakes came down in little clusters, painting all of Metroville in a beautiful white colour, a thin layer of iridescent snow. Agatha, after receiving a call from Mr. Paladino telling her to not go to work, was at the library. She was doing research, of course, on the moon. In the back of her mind, she was also worrying about how she was going to ask him to the Superwoman, but she had shoved that thought aside, for now.

She _had_ felt that Gazerbeam was wrong when he was arguing with her the other night about not going after Crescentia, at least in his reasoning. There was no way that the moon could _always_ be there. And Crescentia had said that she drew her power from the _light_ of the moon, not the moon itself. Agatha grabbed a book off the shelf about eclipses, flipping through the pages and learning. She had always been known as a quick-witted person. Agatha had made wonderful grades in school, and the only reason that she had become a secretary was because of personal reasons.

In the middle of her last year of law school, Agatha's father had gotten terribly ill. He had raised her for most of her life since her mother's death when she was seven years old, and she felt very close to him. Sacrificing everything for his health, she left school to take care of her father, only for him to die in her arms in a cold hospital room of a disease that the doctors couldn't diagnose. She hadn't been able to get the money to go back to school after that, so she had done the next best thing: become a secretary for a law firm.

With a sad smile, she realized that were it not for her father, she wouldn't be where she currently was. And, in any case, she wouldn't have liked to lead a life like Gazerbeam's. She enjoyed her small amount of anonymity, and being a superhero was infinitely more interesting than being a lawyer.

Agatha walked over to a Xerox machine to make a copy of the page where it talked about the frequency of lunar eclipses, and headed out of the library towards the Thrilling Three Towers.

--

"Dyna, can I talk to you?" she spoke into the receiver.

Dynaguy's face appeared on the monitor. He had been reading the newspaper, and when he heard her voice, he put it down and leaned in towards his microphone. "Of course, Apogee. What is it?"

"Did…you decide not to tell me about Crescentia?" Agatha feared the answer, but she had to know it, even if it was the one she didn't want to hear.

Dynaguy appeared to be very deep in thought for a few moments, then sighed. "Yes, me and Gazerbeam both decided that."

"She attacked me 2 weeks ago, before I first asked you about her. Crescentia seems to have a strange interest in me, and I really need to know about her so I can defend myself." She explained. Agatha knew that Dynaguy could be very impulsive. If she could appeal to his logic, at least for a little while, she could get him to do what she wanted.

He seemed to consider this, mulling it over in his mind. Finally, she saw him reach over and push a button in front of him, and a file folder icon appeared on Agatha's monitor, called "The Nox-Sol Jewels". She typed that on her keyboard, and a large file opened.

The Nox-Sol Jewels are from the small treasure chest that Queen Isabella of Spain gave to Christopher Columbus after he came back from the New World. They have special powers, enhancing the powers of the sun and moon for the holder. The Nox Jewel controls how closely the moon orbits around the earth. If used incorrectly, it could cause a collision.

Underneath this description was a picture of a blue gemstone, very like a sapphire, except for the crescent moon symbol in its center. Agatha read on.

The Sol jewel controls how closely the earth orbits the sun. If used incorrectly, it could cause the sun to burn up the earth.

The Sol jewel was an amber color, with a sun symbol in the middle. _To control the power of sunlight…_Agatha thought. For just a few moments, she felt a great desire to possess that crystal and make herself that much more powerful. Back to reality after a few moments, she realized that if not used properly, she could cause the annihilation of the world as she knew it. Besides, she would not try to get the crystal at the cost of being a superhero.

With a deep breath, Agatha opened up the NSA file on Crescentia, which was now open to her.

Crescentia is a super from the Los Angeles district. Unsatisfied with her powers, she sought to find ways to increase her abilities. After trying to rob the museum where the Nox-Sol Jewels were being held, she was stripped of her hero status and The Phantasmics, specializing in international threats, were sent after her. 

_However, attempts to capture her have been unsuccessful. Gazerbeam, second-in-command of the Phantasmics in 1954, was unsatisfied with Everseer's method of leadership, thinking it inefficient. Left the Phantasmics to pursue Crescentia alone._

_The Nox-Sol Jewels are now being relocated several times a month to maximize security._

Agatha leaned back in her chair, thinking over the information and letting it totally sink in. She hadn't known that Gazerbeam was originally one of the Phantasmics. Agatha hadn't come to Metroville until spring of 1956. How many things would the other supers keep from her?

"Dyna, am I an inferior super or something?" she asked weakly.

Dynaguy had been reading his newspaper again, and looked up when he heard her voice. Without hesitation, he shook his head. "You're no Meta Man, but if you weren't a decent fighter, I never would've asked you to join us, Apogee."

She quickly considered The Phylange, but decided not to say anything. "But then why do you guys—"

"We don't really _mean_ to keep things from you, you just never asked. Except with the whole Crescentia deal, of course, we thought it better for you not to know," he shrugged.

Agatha sighed, moving her hand to her forehead and rubbing her temples to ease the throbbing. "Promise me something."

"Whatsat?"

"If you EVER learn about something that pertains to me, tell me. Even if you think you're protecting me," she ordered, voice confident and unwavering.

With a smile, Dynaguy nodded.


	13. Changes

**Chapter Thirteen – Changes**

Agatha showed up for work the next day wearing a long, lacy white skirt, tan-colored boots with a wool trim, and a matching scarf and jacket to fend off the cold. She knew Mr. Paladino was busy, but as she walked in through the front door into the firm office, he looked at her once and nodded. With a satisfied smile, Agatha strode into her tiny office where a stack of papers was waiting on her desk to be filed.

It was Christmas season, and Agatha reveled in watching the snowfall, and the little children running around in the streets throwing snowballs at each other. She finished her work quickly, and sat at her desk with a hot cup of coffee to keep warm, occasionally answering a few phone calls. Business was usually slow during the holidays, because even though you could sue for anything in America, you couldn't sue someone while you were in the Bahamas or Cancun. Not with a lawyer from _this_ firm, anyway.

Before she knew it, a few hours had passed, and Mr. Paladino swung by her office to treat her to lunch. "I've got a craving for some nice soup or something." He told her, obviously as cold as everyone else. Somewhere in her mind, Agatha knew that it probably wasn't right to keep accepting his charity, but she didn't know how to refuse. In her haste to put things away to leave quickly, she knocked over the mug of coffee. She stamped her foot on the ground in frustration, though she was thankful that it hadn't spilled on any of the papers.

"I'm such a klutz today. My fingers are cold, so they don't respond too well when I try to do things. Simple work like filing papers is OK, but…" she trailed off, leaving the sentence open. She grabbed a few paper towels to soak up the coffee, then carefully took the mug and put it in the office sink in the lounge.

"Well, hopefully you'll warm up a bit after we get some food into you." He smiled, walking with her out the door. They decided to walk, in case something happened again. Noting her scarf, Mr. Paladino said, "Hey Agatha, what did the big furry hat say to the warm wooly scarf?"

_Oh no, it's a "joke"._ She thought with a mental grimace. "I don't know, what did it say?" she asked, trying to humor him.

"'You hang around while I go on a-head.'"

Agatha paused for just a second, in pure horror, before pointing at some random point in the distance. "Hey, Simon! What's that over there?"

"Where?" he immediately turned around like the serious, gullible man he was, and Agatha crouched down to gather up a snowball. "I don't see anything…" She took a few steps back as Mr. Paladino started to turn back around, and right when he was facing her again, she threw the snowball at him. It shattered against the front of his navy blue long-coat with a resounding _SMACK_! He looked really stunned for a few seconds. "You just hit your employer with a snowball!" he gasped, looking rather appalled.

Agatha immediately felt sorry. "You're right, I shouldn't have—" _SMACK_! Her jacket had a dark, moist spot where her _employer_ had just hit her with a snowball. "I was about to apologize!" she made another snowball and threw it at him, though he deftly avoided it this time, brandishing another snowball to throw at her.

--

After several minutes of a snowball fight, with 2 supers running down the street throwing snowballs at each other, Agatha finally collapsed into the snow, laughing and panting at the same time. "I haven't run that fast for so long since we ran into Baron von Ruthless at the track field last year." She waved her legs and arms up and down to create a little snow angel, then got up to admire her handiwork.

"It's almost as beautiful as you are." Mr. Paladino said softly. Her scarf had loosened while she was running, and he tenderly tightened it, keeping her warm. Apparently, he had totally forgotten about lunch.

Agatha took a few steps towards the sun, and then turned around again. The Boss looked entranced, as if the snow angel had come to life before him. "Hey, Mr. Paladino! I have a question." She said warmly, laughter in her voice.

"And what's that, Ms. Somer?" he replied, squinting a little despite his sunglasses.

"If Apogee were to ask Gazerbeam to go to the Superwoman with her, what would he say?" she asked playfully. Despite his seriousness, Mr. Paladino understood what she was saying and smiled.

"Well, I think he'd say yes. Who could refuse the goddess of the sun, after all?"

Agatha couldn't help but smile at that comment. "And what if Apogee said that she knew what her feelings were?" she queried, walking towards him slowly and gracefully.

"I think Gazerbeam already knew about Apogee's feelings, even before she did." He answered, grinning in her direction. "Women aren't too good about hiding how they feel, of course."

Agatha stopped, just a pace or two in front of him, and put her hands on her hips. "Is that a fact? Well, Gazerbeam knows about Apogee's secret identity and all."

"'Superladies, they're always trying to tell you their secret identity,"he grinned, taking her arms in his hands and smoothly sliding his arms around her waist. "They think it'll…strengthen the relationship or something." He said the latter in almost a whisper. "To quote a very street-smart super, of course." Before he could say anything else, Agatha gently pressed her lips against his in a soft kiss.

"Apogee thinks Gazerbeam talks too much." She teased. Mr. Paladino held her close to him, rocking her gently as she laid her head against his chest. And despite the freezing temperature, she felt warm.

--

It had been four days since Agatha's last encounter with Crescentia. Mr. Paladino told her that the Nox-Sol jewels were being relocated again, so she was probably having trouble finding out where they were. It seemed pathetic to Agatha that the jewels had to be hidden and re-hidden over and over just so that Crescentia couldn't get her hands on them.

"Why not spend more time trying to find her?" she asked him one day, curious. It seemed as if not much was being done to capture her, even though she wasn't doing much other than trying to nab the jewels.

"She's not exactly a top priority. Crescentia's intent is to take the Nox-Sol jewels. She has her reasons for doing so, and I don't think she's necessarily a villain. She obviously doesn't have much intent to harm others or steal anything else," he shrugged.

Abashed, Agatha replied, "Crescentia harmed _me_!"

Mr. Paladino froze, and Agatha realized that she hadn't told anybody about that first night when she had met Crescentia. "She hurt you?" he asked, tone harsh.

"Well…" she hadn't exactly intended on telling anyone about it, either. Agatha had been snuck up on and beaten up in the worst way possible. "I…ran into her one night and she used her powers on me. I got knocked out."

"Is that why you called in that sick day two weeks ago?" he seethed. Agatha paused, then nodded yes. "That lowlife…"

"I'm still alive!"

"I didn't realize that she'd hurt you! This makes her more of a priority." He explained, though his tone wasn't too comforting. He turned away, looking as if he was about to walk off.

"For the NSA or for you?"

Mr. Paladino quickly turned around, and she was sure that he was looking her in the eye through his sunglasses. She imagined that it was a look of the utmost tenderness, and then he turned away again. Even if it was just her imagination, she wished it was real.


	14. The Calm Before a Storm

This fic takes place in about 1956. So I actually used a lunar calendar to look up when the New Moon would take place in December of 1956 for accuracy's sake. Sorry this chapter took so long, by the way. I was planning "Megalomaniac" (you can now go read chapter one of that, but people haven't been liking it too much) and was also experiencing a pretty terrible writer's block.

**Chapter Fourteen – The Calm Before a Storm**

The 22nd of December in Metroville was a force to be reckoned with. Sure, Agatha was on Christmas vacation, but the temperature had plummeted to a mere 28 degrees fahrenheit, and clouds continually filled up the sky. On the one hand, Agatha couldn't really use her powers, and was rather miffed at the fact that Dynaguy and The Phylange got to do everything. On the other hand, it meant that Crescentia couldn't use her powers either, so she couldn't attack her. It seriously annoyed Agatha that every time she had an idea to vanquish her "archnemisis", it turned out to be a double-edged sword. She couldn't defeat Crescentia without hurting herself in the process. Her only chance, it would appear, was to take Crescentia on during a New Moon.

Of course, this presented two problems. According to a lunar calendar from the library, the two new moons in December for 1956 were on the 2nd, which had already passed, and the 31st. Agatha could actually probably attack her anywhere between the 29th and 31st, also, because the moon was also pretty dark on those days. However, her primary problem was that the sun does not come out at night. _Unless I lure Crescentia to a TANNING SALON, it's pretty hopeless._ Agatha thought bitterly. Her supersuit could only store a limited amount of solar energy, and based on past experiences, she had concluded that the energy could only last for about 10 minutes on full power.

Her second problem, of course, was that she had no idea where Crescentia was. Agatha didn't even know where the Nox-Sol Jewels were, let alone Crescentia's hideout. She had to have a place to crash, of course. No supervillain could hope to cause mayhem 24 hours a day without taking a break.

And, there was this nagging thought in the back of her mind: What if _she_ took the Nox-Sol jewels for herself? She'd be so much stronger…she wouldn't be a damsel in distress anymore. She could be totally independent…

_No. I'm a super HERO. Taking the jewels would be a CRIME._ Shaking her head, she quickly dispelled her thoughts on the matters at hand. Agatha decided to think about the problem of Crescentia later. She didn't _have_ to confront Crescentia in December; it could wait. And besides, she had nine days before the 31st, over a week to think over things. And about the Sol jewel…well, she'd rather not think about that at all. Agatha made a mental note to ask Everseer about Crescentia, and got up to go to her refrigerator to get something to eat.

--

Agatha had been enjoying a nice bowl of hot chicken noodle soup when the phone rang. "Hello?" she spoke into the receiver.

"Agatha! It's Simon." Her heart immediately skipped a few beats, and Agatha reprimanded her inner self for being oh-so-junior-high. "Are you free right now?"

"Is the sun shining?" she replied, rolling her eyes. Agatha heard a laugh from the other side of the line.

"A nice, polite young woman would say 'Why yes, Gazerbeam! I'm really bored right now and would _love_ to spend time with you!'" He replied, imitating her voice tone.

Agatha scoffed into the phone. "Since when have I accused myself of being nice _or_ polite?" she asked him.

There was a short pause. "So anyway, back to what I was saying." Agatha smiled, realizing that he had changed the subject on purpose. "Since the sun is _not_ shining, you must therefore be free, and you must therefore go shopping with me because I'm male and therefore have no idea what to do about things like gifts and outfits for silly dances."

_How many more times can you legally use the word 'therefore' in a sentence?_ Agatha thought, annoyed and yet terribly amused. "Why, I'd _love_ to go, Gazerbeam!" she pretended to gush, her voice high and squeaky.

"…quit mocking me."

--

They pulled into the parking lot of the Metroville shopping mall, and walked into the building side by side. "Any color preferences?" Agatha asked with a smirk.

"Do I look like someone who takes great stock in fashion?" he raised an eyebrow. Agatha looked him over for a minute. Simon was pretty normal-looking, as far as supers went. He had brown hair, neatly combed to one side, and usually wore sunglasses of some sort. At work, he wore suits, of course, but even when things were more casual, he tended to wear nice slacks and a button-up shirt on top of a white t-shirt.

"I guess not," she shrugged after a few moments' hesitation. She, of course, wasn't exactly a fashionista herself, but at least she cared about her appearance. Agatha spent an hour picking out her clothes, doing her hair, and applying her make-up. Sure, it was a little vain, maybe, but it was important to her.

Even though she insisted otherwise, her male counterpart forced her into Nordstrom's, assuring her that he had plenty of money just _lying_ around. "How are bankers like bakers?" he asked.

Not realizing that it was a joke, Agatha absently replied, "What?"

"They're both rolling in the dough!" he laughed, though quickly stopped when he saw Agatha's stupefied reaction. "…let me guess…not funny?"

"Nope." She shook her head. Agatha reached past him to grab a blue dress off the rack. "This look ok?"

Simon shrugged. "I don't know, you tell me. Of course, I have to match, so try not to pick something that's…hot pink?"

Agatha giggled. "I'd look terrible in hot pink, anyway. Blue is more my colour." The dress was a light cerulean color, and strapless, with a large white sash at the waist tied into a bow at the back. Agatha left Simon to run into a dressing room to try it on. She admired herself in the mirror for a few minutes. _Simple, yet elegant_. "I wonder if they have something I can wear around my shoulders with this." She said, coming out of the dressing room to see herself in the full-body mirror.

"Like a scarf?" he asked from a distance.

"Yeah, I feel sort of naked wearing this by itself," she pulled her hair up into a bun to see how it would look, but decided that it drew too much attention to her neck. (which she had always believed was too long) After fooling around with her hair for another minute or two, she turned back towards the dressing room door to change.

Suddenly, she felt something cold around her neck and froze. Her neck quickly warmed up again, and she felt Simon's hands firmly on her shoulders. He turned her towards the mirror without a word. It took Agatha a moment or two to notice the necklace that Simon had put on her. It was a string of pearls, which went down to just under her collarbone. They were a beautiful, creamy white color, and Agatha knew that they must have cost a fortune. "Are you crazy?" she hissed.

"They look good on you. I don't think jewels are really your thing, you know?" he said the latter more softly, and suddenly she knew exactly what he meant. It was strange how he could always manage to figure out what was on her mind. "I think…simplicity really works for you. You should never try to go too overboard, and don't ever try to be something that you're not."

She knew right then and there that she could never steal those jewels. Not only was it wrong morally, it would ruin everything that she treasured in her life. Gazerbeam would never care for someone who ached for power so much, and all of the other supers would turn their back on her forever. She rested her cheek against the top of his hand, which was still on her shoulder. "I know. You have nothing to worry about from me."

Simon laughed. "I know I never do, just…making sure everything's ok." Agatha quickly whirled around.

"So! Let's get to picking out your suit, shall we?" she smiled, feeling a lot better than she had that morning.

"What about Christmas presents?" he asked warily.

"Oh…just buy everybody gift cards. Or give them money. What would _supers_ do with candles and picture frames, anyway? And I'm pretty sure all the guys have enough socks and ties." Agatha laughed.

Simon shrugged. "You never know, right?"

"Christmas is in three days. We can buy them later." She sighed. Agatha was much too lazy, and the truth was, she wanted to spend time with Simon. And helping him buy gifts for _other women_, even if they _were_ supers, was not something she really felt like doing.

"What if something happens before then? We should get them now while we can." He asked in reply, cautious as always.

Agatha put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "We're superheroes! What could happen?"


	15. The Thrilling Two

Before you get on my case, there's a discrepancy in the film. In "The Incredibles", Dynaguy is supposed to die in the late 1950's. But then after Mr. Incredible gets sued and it's showing all the newspapers, you see Dynaguy getting sued. Right after this, all the supers get forced into hiding. Which means that, going by this, Dynaguy dies after he gets sued, but before they go into hiding. Well, Gazerbeam is supposed to join the Thrilling Three after Dynaguy dies, but how would he do that if they all go into hiding?

**Chapter Fifteen – The Thrilling Two**

Gazerbeam came to pick her up at exactly eight PM. Agatha was wearing the simple blue dress that he had bought her from Nordstrom's, (which had ended up costing $700, go figure) as well as the pearl necklace he had given her. She had also put on her large sun visor, which was a purple color that faded into blue, which was the part of her super suit that served as her mask. Gazerbeam, dressed to kill as always, was wearing a suit that was a darker shade of the blue in her dress, and a pair of sunglasses.

"You know, wearing sunglasses all the time just makes you look like you're blind?" she teased as she got out of the apartment and locked the door.

"Would you rather I not wear sunglasses, and then burn you into ashes?" he replied calmly, used to her teasing by now. "Because you know I won't be looking at anything but you tonight." Agatha turned a deep shade of red, and chose to say nothing. Just to be on the safe side, she had folded her supersuit carefully and put it into her purse. Gazerbeam, no doubt, had his under his tuxedo. Supers were always careful; you never knew what could come your way. Of course, the men that hadn't been asked had formed a temporary super squad, of sorts, and were patrolling the city.

They got into Gazerbeam's car, and drove towards the Metroville Civic Center where the Superwoman was being held. They had apparently chosen their outfits well; blue was the dance decoration _colour_. Everything, from the walls to the confetti, was in various shades of blue. Agatha suspected that Thunderhead had had at least _something_ to do with the colour choice, as blue was his signature colour. She and Gazerbeam sat down at one of the banquet tables, and ate the exquisite food rather gingerly. "You know, I just noticed that almost all of the supers' supersuits are red, white, or blue." She commented after some thought.

"It just seems that way because we're in America," Gazerbeam reasoned. "I mean, we're protecting the country, so using the colours of the flag would make sense, wouldn't it?"

In fact, the only super she could think of with a supersuit that wasn't patriotic was Everseer, and even then, his suit was still white, just with green accents. Even now, when they were all at a party, they still dressed in mostly the same colours. Agatha and Gazerbeam were both guilty of wearing blue as well, except that their outfits were more of a cerulean colour. With a smile, Agatha casually slid her hand into Gazerbeam's under the table. He seemed a little surprised, but did nothing but smile in response. "The pearls look good on you," he said smoothly.

"I got them from a wonderful man," she teased. Gazerbeam pulled lightly on Agatha's arm as he stood up, implying that he wanted her to get up with him. He gestured towards the dance floor, where couples were already dancing around. On the far side of the auditorium, she saw Stormicide and Gamma Jack, together yet apart, sitting back-to-back and facing opposite directions. A thought crossed her mind, and she wondered if they were fighting for some reason. It seemed rather unlikely; Gamma Jack was a man who flirted with any beautiful woman in sight. Still, Stormicide probably knew what she was doing, and eventually, Agatha knew that her friend would tell her about what had happened.

She got up from the table, laying the napkin that had been in her lap on top of her plate, and was gently pulled to the dance floor by Gazerbeam. For being so serious with a lack of a sense of humor, he danced extraordinarily well. His energy seemed boundless, and Agatha almost struggled to keep up with him and his twirls, dips, and whatever else he threw her way. She felt happy, and thought that there really wasn't anything in the world that could ruin this moment.

The lights suddenly turned off, and the music abruptly silenced. "You know, even when it seems completely dark…the stars, the moon…they're still in the night sky," Agatha knew that voice, and cringed. "Sunshine, Sunshine, Sunshine." A spotlight shined on Agatha and Gazerbeam, and she pulled out of his embrace to look towards where the spotlight's origin was.

"Crescentia," she whispered, mostly to herself. The other supers looked confused, mostly, as they hadn't dealt with her previously. Gazerbeam was gazing at Crescentia with a look of the utmost worry. Crescentia was just beneath the top of the auditorium, where there were open windows that let the light from outside come in, and gave a view of the sky outside. She glowed with starlight, standing on one of the ceiling beams while maneuvering the spotlight.

"Tell me, Sunshine. If you had to choose between love and friendship, which would it be?" the supervillain seemed greatly amused, and smirked as if to say _And you thought you were rid of me?_

"What do you mean?" Agatha called out. A few supers turned to look at her, as if to say _Apogee knows that person?_ She mentally shook her head, thinking _I wish I didn't_.

"I mean what I said. On the one hand, you have glory. You have The Thrilling Three. Your little team led by Dynaguy. You guys have done pretty well; apprehended bank robbers, put out fires…kept Metroville safe. On the other hand," Crescentia gestured towards Gazerbeam. "…you have your lover, don't you? Gazerbeam."

"What are you getting at?" Agatha clenched her fists to shop the shaking fear. There was no sunlight, and her suit was in a bag. "What are you trying to say?"

"Gazerbeam or The Thrilling Three?" Crescentia suddenly looked off into the distance. "Oh! It looks like your choice has already been made for you. I do offer my condolences."

Agatha's blood ran cold as Crescentia vanished. She dashed towards the table and grabbed her bag, running quickly to the bathroom to change. Gazerbeam was right outside the bathroom door, yelling at her and asking her what the hell she was doing. She chose to ignore this. Agatha changed into her supersuit quickly, and grabbed the wristwatch communicator. "Phylange! Phylange! Come in, Phylange!"

There was some static, followed by "Apogee? Is that you?" He sounded far away, and Agatha was very afraid.

"Phylange! What happened? Where's Dyna?" she cried desperately.

"He…oh God, he…there was this guy called the Disaster Duke holding a group of kids hostage in the Metroville Park. I told him to wait, I'd go with him, but you know Dyna. He went off by himself!"

Agatha, though not surprised by Dynaguy's impulsivity, was deathly afraid. What had Crescentia meant by "your choice has already been made for you"? "I'll be there. Meet me at the park, and we'll find him."

As she ran out of the bathroom, Gazerbeam stopped her. "And just _where_ do you think you're going?" he demanded.

"No…time….I have to save Dyna!" she struggled to get her arm out of his grip, but it was like an iron vice.

"I want to go with you…!" he insisted, struggling to hold on, to keep her there. "I can change in just—"

"No! This is something that The Thrilling Three has to handle!" she forcefully pulled out of his grip and ran the short distance to the Metroville City Park.

--

She had met up with The Phylange shortly, and he was waiting right at the gates to give her more information. Agatha and the Phylange were now slowly creeping around, using trees for cover and going towards where the alleged criminal was supposed to be.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Agatha saw Dynaguy up ahead, poised to strike as the Disaster Duke was…monologuing? They seemed to have caught the end of it. The Disaster Duke was dressed exactly like a European aristocrat of yore, down to the sword and pointy shoes.

"The world will soon be mine! You have no chance against me, Dynaguy! Hee hee hee hee!" the Duke cackled, turning on his jet shoes and rising into the air at a rather high speed. He threw the sword from his belt down, pinning Dynaguy's cape into the ground. Determined not to let this one get away, Dynaguy tried to fly after him.

In that moment, Agatha didn't expect anything bad to happen. This was Dynaguy. They were superheroes, and the heroes _always_ won. Dynaguy would lift off, his cape would get a little ripped maybe, but he would catch the bad guy and save the day.

It was then that Agatha heard the sound of a sickening _CRACK!_ The Phylange quickly looked at her, and his gray eyes bored into her, asking _What was that?_ They both looked up to the sky, where Dynaguy was now hurtling towards the earth, as if his cape had pulled him back like a bungee cord. He hit the ground with a resounding _thud_.

Even then, Agatha wasn't worried at all. _Surely Dynaguy just broke his jet thrusters, and that was what that sound was. He's OK._ She was thinking. She figured that the cape was more resilient than it looked, so it had just pulled him back. Agatha closed her eyes as she winced. There was suddenly the sound of high-pitched beeping, and Agatha looked up just in time to see the "jewels" on the hilt of the sword flash different colours. "No—!"

There was a loud _BOOM_ as the sword exploded. Smoke filled the air, billowing around like a large cloud and filling the vicinity. The Phylange had jumped to shield Agatha, and as the smoke partially cleared, she saw him in front of her and could hear him coughing from the smoke poisoning. "Apogee! Are you…alright?" he asked between coughs. He slumped to the ground, and Agatha noticed that he was bleeding profusely.

"Phylange!" she shrieked. The bomb's shrapnel had apparently sliced through him, and though his wounds weren't life-threatening on their own, they could be serious if left alone. Agatha used her communicator to call the police, telling them to send help. "Stay with me, Phylange!"

"No! I'm…fine!" he coughed, the smoke interfering with his speech. "See to…Dynaguy!" It was then that Agatha suddenly remembered Dynaguy. A chill running down her spine, she went to Dynaguy's side, her visor shielding her eyes from the smoke.

In horror, she saw Dynaguy lying on his back, covered in blood. He was making strange noises as he tried to inhale, and Agatha knew from her readings that his lungs had probably been injured heavily. She felt something inside of her break as she pleaded with him to hold on, telling him that the ambulance would be there shortly. "You're a hero, Dyna. A _hero_. You _can't_ die…please…please…" He moved his head to look at her, and smiled.

"Dynamic…dynamite…dynamo…that's me," he laughed. He coughed just a few times, and then his breathing slowed. Finally, his eyes glazed over and Agatha was hit with the stunning realization that he was _gone_. She lifted her hands from his shoulders and her light blue gloves were stained with something that was terribly red. Agatha felt the world fall all around her, and she trembled, crying like she hadn't cried since her father's death. Her body was wracked with sobs as she turned her face towards the sky.

"Why couldn't I have been there? If I was here…if I had been here, I could have helped! We're a team! Why did he have to die!" she screamed. She heard the sound of sirens in the distance, and heard someone calling her.

Crescentia's words returned to her in her anguish, whispered on the wind: _If you had to choose between love and friendship, which would it be? Oh! It looks like your choice has already been made for you_.


	16. Phoenix from the Flames

**Chapter Sixteen – Phoenix from the Flames**

Agatha had become inconsolable. Even though it was silly, somewhere inside of her, she still clung to the notion that heroes _could_ do anything. Dynaguy's death had dealt her a harsh blow, bringing her back to reality in a flash. She felt miserable, thinking that Crescentia had a personal grudge against her, because the woman had beaten her down, targeted her exclusively. The nickname "Sunshine" seemed to be only a further personal jab meant to beat Agatha down. Crescentia had to have orchestrated Dynaguy's death somehow. The Disaster Duke had never appeared in Metroville before, and it seemed all too premeditated. Most supervillains in the past hadn't aimed to kill.

With a week before the new moon, the so-called "goddess of the sun" had been reduced to sitting in her apartment on the couch eating chocolate and watching TV. Soap operas had, all of a sudden, become very interesting, though she had to wonder at how the people on the shows could be so preoccupied with such negligible problems. Things like who was dating who, who had sex with who…to Agatha, it all seemed so pointless. Finally becoming frustrated with the superficial characters, she threw her box of chocolates at the TV and turned it off.

Normal people would probably been fired from their jobs already, given how many "sick leaves" Agatha had taken. Simon, however, wasn't exactly as strict with her, so she hadn't even bothered to tell him that she would be staying at home. If she ever decided to return to work, there would be a large stack of paperwork waiting for her there, and that thought was just another reason why she didn't want to leave her apartment.

The phone rang, and at first, Agatha didn't really feel like picking up. Finally, curiosity won over her depression, and she answered it after about six rings. "Apogee? It's Stormicide."

"How…how did you get this number?" Agatha asked, shocked with a dash of annoyed.

"I got it from The Phylange. It seems that nobody's been able to get a hold of you lately, so—"

"If you hadn't noticed, I'm not doing so hot right now," Agatha snapped, interrupting her friend. She wondered how much weight she had put on since she started her strict Hershey's diet. …well, it'd only been one day, so maybe only one or two pounds, she hoped. She had to smile at the fact that even when she was down in the dumps, a silly thing like her _weight_ still meant something to her.

"Doing this won't bring him back." Stormicide's words were like a slap in the face, and they snapped Agatha out of wherever she had been. "Look…can we get together? Talk face to face? I think it'd be good for you."

"Sans masks." Agatha amended. There was a pause on the other end of the line. In fact, the only reason Agatha was agreeing to getting out of her apartment at all was because it was a fellow female super asking. Had even Gazerbeam asked her to come out now, she doubted that she would have obliged.

"Why?" the other super finally asked.

"I have learned…" Agatha hesitated, working the words over in her mind. "I have learned that heroes are weak, fragile creatures. I want you to see me as I am…without any pretenses."

Stormicide laughed. "All right, then, you've got a deal. Let's meet up at L'Château. My treat. I'll be the brunette with the fur coat and…?"

Despite everything, Agatha was starting to feel better. Odd that just a silly phone call and an arrangement to rendezvous could have such an effect. She giggled into the phone, smiling like she hadn't at all that day. "I'll be the blonde with the box of chocolates." She said, eying the unopened box of Hershey's Chocolate on the other side of the room.

--

Agatha arrived at L'Château quickly enough. It struck her as odd that Stormicide would want to meet at such an expensive French restaurant, and even odder that she'd have a fur coat. Just what did she do in her private life to make so much money? Agatha sat down at a table for two, and scanned the menu for something less than $40, but found nothing.

Within a few minutes, she heard the distinct sound of high heels against marble, and couldn't help but turn her head. Agatha instantly recognized Stormicide—a beautiful brunette. She was tall, with long, sleek hair, a wonderful body, and almost a regal look about her. Her "fur coat" was simply a light jacket with a fur trim. Stormicide's face brightened when she saw Agatha sitting at the table with the box of chocolates, and she quickly sat down. Agatha handed her the chocolates, and hoped that the waiters wouldn't think the wrong thing. She reached her hand across the table to shake hands with Stormicide. "Hello there. My name is Agatha Somer."

Her brunette friend smiled warmly. "I'm Kimberly Dubois. 'Kim' for short,"

"Oh, so you're French! Is that why we're at this restaurant?" Agatha asked. She instantly regretted it, because Kim's face darkened for a few moments.

"Ah, no. I'm not French. My husband is, though." She laughed nervously. Agatha was shocked. She hadn't known that Stormicide was married. Of course, the private lives of the supers were rarely discussed, so any number of them could already be married and she would never know about it. "He's a rather affluent businessman, and I'm just a housewife." She added, sensing Agatha's next question. "I'm a full-time super, though!" she joked.

"No worries. I'm a secretary, so my situation isn't much better." Agatha smiled reassuringly. The two laughed forced laughs for a few more moments. The waiter came, and they both placed their orders. After some silence, Agatha impatiently cut to the chase. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Kim paused. "Well, it wasn't so much that I wanted to talk to you as I just wanted you to get out of your apartment for a little while. All that moping around doesn't do any good."

"You sound like my mother," Agatha sighed.

"Do I? That's ironic. Married for almost five years and I don't have any children. Jac—my husband's too busy." Agatha got the feeling that Kim was hiding something important, but didn't feel like pressing the matter.

"Well, somebody _died_, Kim. You can't tell me that that's not important," she said, feeling a great need to justify herself.

"Look, Aggy. _Nobody_ thinks it's your fault. We think that Crescentia may be a little unhinged, and based on what Gazerbeam's told us, she seems to have particular interest in hurting you most of all. But Dynaguy…his death was not your fault." Kim told her, her voice assuming soothing tones.

It was strange how Stormicide could always tell what needed to be said, and then say it. People had often told Agatha that she lacked tact. She knew it to be true, and it didn't really bother her. She didn't have a great way with words, and could admit it. And now, Stormicide had said the one thing that Agatha most needed to hear—that she had had no fault. "You know…I think I knew that. I'm not that stupid." Agatha said slowly. Kim straightened up, looking Agatha in the eye to show that she was listening. "I just…I just needed to hear it from somebody."

"I'm glad…that you feel better." Kim smiled. The waiter came by with their food, and the two women ate quietly in companionable silence.

As they finished their meal and Kim was paying the check, Agatha remembered something. "Kim? Can I ask you one question?"

"Sure, just shoot," Kim grinned.

"Why were you and Gamma Jack…why were you two sitting like that at the Superwoman? You didn't look like you were enjoying each other's company too much." She asked.

Kim looked up, as if trying to remember the circumstances, then closed her eyes and shrugged and sighed at the same time. "Me and Jack…we have a…very complicated history. I learned something important about him last night, and he…he figured something out about me." She stood up from her chair. "But that's my story." She smiled kindly.

"How does the story end?" Agatha asked.

"Who knows? Who knows how _any_ story will end, but the gods?" she started to walk off, then stopped and turned around, as if she had just come upon a thought. "But you know? I think, as heroes, we're lucky because we're different. Our stories…they never really end. They continue to be told, and we will never die, in that way. Dynaguy—he will always be remembered."

As Kim waved goodbye and left, Agatha repeated her words to herself: "Dynaguy will never die." She folded up her lap napkin, and headed for the Thrilling Three Towers.


	17. Take Me to Your Leader

**Chapter Seventeen – Take Me to Your Leader**

Agatha had stopped at her apartment before going back to headquarters to change into her supersuit, but was met with a surprise. She was mildly concerned when she saw workers in front of the Thrilling Three Towers. They were carting Dynaguy's furniture and personal belongings out of his tower, which wasn't really that disturbing. It was admittedly understandable, if not depressing. It was like the final blow, the final call to reality: Dynaguy was gone, and would never come back. What _did_ strike Agatha as strange was that another set of workers was carrying more furniture _in_. The Phylange was watching all of this from the side near a lamppost, arms folded, with a severe look on his face. Agatha slowly and silently walked up to him, and it took a few seconds for him to notice that she was there.

"Oh…hey there, Apogee. Finally got out of your apartment?" he asked absently.

"Be nice," she pinched his arm. "What's all this about?"

"Apparently we're The Thrilling Three again, because the NSA assigned someone new to be leader," he explained. "He's moving in right now." He gestured towards the workers with a small flourish.

Agatha furrowed her brow in confusion. "Are they allowed to do that?" She was mildly perturbed that a government agency could decide their fates.

"Apparently," The watched in silence as the rest of the furniture was carried in (or out) and when it was all done, the workers asked The Phylange to sign a few forms, which he did. They then promptly got into their big moving truck and left. "Well, things will certainly be more interesting from now on, eh Apogee?"

She nodded her head slightly in reply, and made her way into her respective tower. As she waited for the elevator to reach the top floor, she realized that she hadn't asked The Phylange who the new leader was. Agatha resolved to ask him later, not expecting him to be at the Towers yet. "Apogee."

Somehow, she knew all along that it would be him. The NSA liked being ironic like that; they always put the weirdest supers together—their sadism could be seen mostly in the treatment of Blazestone—first paired up with her polar opposite, and then paired up with Universal Man, one of the most egotistical of supers. Agatha had been prepared to dislike whoever the NSA chose as their new leader, mainly because she thought no one could replace Dynaguy. She felt terrible because she no longer felt that way.

"Gazerbeam." He was standing near her console, looking around at things. He'd never been to the Thrilling Three Towers before, so she could understand him wanting to take a look around. Agatha walked towards him with confidence. He didn't ask her why she hadn't come to work, and he didn't say some sarcastic remark on how she had _finally_ left her apartment. That was one thing Agatha liked about him: he was considerate. Gazerbeam knew the things that needed to be said, and said only those things that were completely necessary. She supposed that was why humor and sarcasm were totally unknown to him. "You're the new leader, are you?" she asked, voice tone completely free of malice.

This seemed to console him a little, and he straightened himself up. "Yes, the NSA called me this morning."

Agatha tilted her head to one side. "They could've been a little more understanding. It's only been one day," _Since Dynaguy died_.

Gazerbeam took a step toward her. "I know, that's what _I_ said." He paused for a few seconds before continuing, "…but the NSA means for the Thrilling Three to be a national group, dealing with internal and external affairs, so they wanted somebody in immediately."

She had to admit, there was a slight surge of adrenaline that went through her when she heard that The Thrilling Three was to be a national defense team. This was quickly followed by guilt; Agatha felt bad that she was feeling so excited after Dynaguy's death. "When's our first assignment?" she asked tentatively.

"Our first assignment is Crescentia," Gazerbeam growled, clenching his left fist. Agatha started, having thought that he would forget about what he'd said the other day.

"She's not a _national_ threat, is she?" Agatha asked, a quizzical look on her face. Or was there something else that Gazerbeam wasn't telling her…?

"She's a threat to you," he snapped. "And that should be good enough reason for us to go after her. I don't care about anything else. As long as she's out there on the streets, you're not safe."

This made Agatha angry, though she was also surprised at how hard his words had hit her. "What am I, some damsel in distress? I'm a superhero for crying out loud! I'm not just some woman!"

"You're _my_ woman!" Gazerbeam yelled, interrupting her. Stunned beyond all belief, Agatha was forced into silence. He had _never_ yelled at her before. _Never_. "You're my…the only, most important person in my life." Gazerbeam slowly turned around, his back turned to her, as if admitting this made him seem weaker somehow. "Please understand that I am not trying to underestimate your powers. Crescentia is just…I have to deal with her on my own."

Agatha took a step towards him and put her hand on his shoulder, gently turning him back around so he'd face her. "Hey…she's _my_ archnemisis," she laughed softly. Gazerbeam didn't say anything; he only averted his eyes. Agatha took a few steps towards the windows, putting a hand against the cold glass and resting her forehead against her hand. "You know, I went out to eat with Stormicide today. I was feeling really terrible for a number of reasons, and she told me a few things that…really made me feel better." She glanced towards Gazerbeam, who had looked up slightly. "Heroes never really die."

"Agatha."

Agatha whirled around. Gazerbeam was facing her, his eyes meeting hers. She walked slowly up to him and placed a finger on his lips. "Shh…I know that my powers aren't the greatest out there. I'll be the first to admit it." Gazerbeam gently grasped her two hands by the wrists and ceremoniously kissed her fingertips, saying nothing. It gave Agatha the courage to continue. "…But what's important is that I conquer my enemy with my own two hands, you know?" she took a step backwards; her hands were released. She had to admit that she missed the warmth. "I want to be remembered for what I did, not for what I wished I could do. I finally believe in me…can't you believe in me, too?"

"Agatha, I…" Gazerbeam turned away. "You must know that under any other circumstances, I would support you wholeheartedly. I would let you face the enemy the way you want to, because I truly believe in you, as well as in your powers." He paused. "But this is different."

"_Why_ is it different?" she pressed.

"Crescentia…Melissa…she's my step sister," he choked out after a long pause. It seemed like this was said with great difficulty, and there was another long, awkward silence before he sighed in frustration. "We'll do this together, ok?"

"I was going to…take her on during the new moon." Agatha admitted. "It's in a week."

"Meaning we have a week to prepare."

"…yes." Agatha replied uncomfortably. "She really _is_ a national threat, isn't she?"

Gazerbeam sighed again. "Only because of the jewels. Those are…under maximum security, and are very important. The fact that she's after them makes this a very big deal. In fact, she could actually cause the moon to crash into the earth, so I guess this is an international thing, not just a US problem."

"Then why aren't the Phantasmics—" Agatha answered her own question and covered her mouth with her hand. Crescentia was also the reason why Gazerbeam left Everseer's group. What had happened between all of them? "You'll tell me someday, right?" she asked. He sighed for the upteenth time that day, and Agatha couldn't help running up to him and hugging him from behind. She rested her head against his back. "You're like a helpless little stray puppy, you know? I just can't leave you alone."

Gazerbeam turned around in her arms to face her, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Thank God for that." He said, just before resting his head on her shoulder.


End file.
